1944 WHIZZER MODEL H on a Lincoln-badged Schwinn
Hey, somebody thought you might have a Whizzer project for sale.”
My friend Ron Nichols mentioned that in 2019 at the Millarville Vintage Motorcycle Swap Meet, and he wasn’t far wrong. I had, over the years, accumulated parts and pieces to put together a machine, but with other motorcycles taking up my time, I had half-heartedly advertised it for sale. When no one seemed interested, the bones of the project were hung on the wall in my Calgary, Alberta, shop. Initially, when Ron asked if it was for sale, I said no — it looked good up there. Thinking more about it, however, I decided to let it go to someone who’d see it to the finish line.
“I must be a child of the 1950s because I’m drawn to the style of the Whizzer engine in a bicycle,” Ron says of his attraction to the machine. “It’s not all that particularly useful, but what it gives back in smiles is incredible.” Ron has been hands-on with mechanical projects since he was a youngster. Early on, he found freedom in the idea that he could take something that didn’t work and rebuild it, “with a skill set learned along the way through skinned knuckles and money spent where it shouldn’t have been,” he explains. “When you were done, this thing comes to life, and you can ride it — it just sets you free.”
Ron has restored many cars, from Volkswagens to Messerschmitts,
