This is a great video because it is a rare convergence of tech, pop culture, good ol’ mechanic thinking, and history all in one. Basically what you are going to see is Davin from Hagerty Garage working to get the Fonz’s Triumph motorcycle running. This is the actual bike from the show, a vintage Triumph that Henry Winkler’s character rode often on the iconic American television series Happy Days. The motorcycle was not running and for various reasons. The magneto was not functioning, the carb was bad, and the whole thing had just been neglected from sitting and was not a happy camper. Enter Davin, a set of whitworth wrenches, his mechanical knowledge, and some time and you have video magic.
Not being huge motorcycle historians or knowledgeable enthusiasts around here we didn’t know a whole lot about these motorcycles or their guts. Watching him have to make stuff to get this one working and then going through the carb and other systems to get them right is fun to watch. To us, this is our favorite type of project. A vehicle that is intact which just needs help to get back to functional. That’s neat. The whole motorcycle is here, it just needs sorting.
Davin delivers this one in his normal, informative and informal style. We dig it. And yes, we do think that if The Fonz simply walked up and whacked the side of the tank it would have run perfectly, but alas Henry Winkler was unavailable at the time of filming.
