John McCrink tells of the acquisition and rebuilding of his beautiful 1956 500 ZB34 BSA Gold Star scrambler that is now road-legal for green lane riding and events such as the Beamish Trophy Trial.
I bought my ‘Goldie’ about three years ago from a fellow club member who’d enjoyed racing with the Scottish Classic Scrambles Club for more than a decade.
Having been well used in competition, it bore all the outward appearance and battle scars that anyone might expect from a machine built 60 years ago, with engine and frame numbers BB34A and B34 Competition respectively.
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My first task was to set about stripping it down, which I’ve
always found to be dead easy, but as for reassembly, well that’s quite a different matter!
Luckily, help was at hand in the shape of two good pals, Andy Johnstone and Bob Pearson, who between them have restored and built numerous competition machines to the most exacting standards. When Bob said he’d completely rebuild the motor for me, it was an offer I just couldn’t refuse, especially as, in conjunction with his good friend and Gold Star expert Phil Pearson, one of his many achievements was to build a very special motor for a beautiful little 350 Goldie which the late Denis Gallagher rode at the 2003 Junior Classic Manx Grand Prix – and to this day it still holds the record for a 350cc Gold Star around the Island.
Read more in the November issue of OBM
