Paul Reed
A man who was associated with motorcycling in almost every form, ROBERT ‘PAUL’ REED, passed away in Stanthorpe in January, aged 93.
Paul hailed from Victoria but moved to Queensland many years ago to seek a better climate for his respiratory condition. In his youth, Paul was a keen clubman racer on a self-built Bantam BSA, competing several times at Bathurst as well as on the Victorian tracks. He was also an accomplished journalist, contributing reports, roads tests and feature articles to several magazines. When OBA began in 2006, Paul was quick to volunteer his services again, an offer we took up immediately.
Paul owned a large number of motorcycles over the years, including an ex-Victorian Police Brough Superior 11-50, a 1936 Ariel Square Four, a Sunbeam, several Nortons and BSAs, and a DKW Wankel which was featured in OBA 3. He also occupied several key positions in the administration of the sport, including secretary of the ACU of Victoria and that state’s delegate to the Auto Cycle Council of Australia (now Motorcycling Australia). In this latter role, Paul was instrumental in bringing World Champion Jim Redman to Australia in 1963, along with a pair of works Hondas.
In 1986 Paul rescued and restored one of the Brisbane-built Spencer motorcycles along with much of the tooling used to produce them between
