More period pictures from the day....

The Husqvarna "HUSKAMA" Team of 1966

Kent Andersson, Bror Jauren, Anders Bengston and Ruben Helmin

Mechanic Tommy Malm is missing (maybe he was taking the photo !)

Percy Tait on the bike in 1967. He was riding for Brian Leask, Husqvarna UK. 

How I acquired the bike

I just came across some old pictures of when I acquired the Husqvarna... It was in quite a mess !

It reminded me of how I acquired it....  

You can see in the picture below that the frame was hacked about by the time I had got it, the picture below shows it pretty well 100% original. The picture above shows added reinforcement and several of the features had been hacked off. All of these had to be put back to original. 

The owner before Ron Philips at Fahron (whom I had got the bike from), had adapted it to take a Triumph engine... What sacrilege ! 

I had shared a pit (and stayed at the same hotel) with Kent Andersson at Spa Francorchamps, and had met him several times whilst riding with Ferry Brouwers Yamaha Classic Racing Team. At the 1st Assen Centennial (several years ago now !) my TA125 Yamaha was Kent's reserve bike, so it was kind of a no brainer when I was offered his old Husqvarna. Ron had known I knew Kent and knew that I was pretty good at bringing unusual bikes back from the dead, to their former glory, and wanted me to have it.

Dry Build nearly completed

I had a bit of a push on the Husky over the Christmas holidays, after we got our electricity back on after the storms of course!

Steering damper assembly fitted, float bowl hanger made and the chain guard that had been cut off was remanufactured and fitted. 

The "proper" engine had been vapour blasted and reconditioned and will replace the unrestored dummy engine currently fitted.

Next job is to strip it all down, replace the metal bright work, rebuild the front wheel, have the seat upholstered and have the paintwork done.... The paint will be done by Cycle Sprays in Cranleigh, Surrey, who have done great jobs on the past few bikes I've restored.

The frame number is located in an unusual place.... 

BA 6600247 K

BA - Bengtson Andersson , K for Kent's bike.

1966 Factory Grand Prix Husqvarna

1966 Factory Grand Prix Husqvarna

This is the restoration of a unique road racing Husqvarna !

This is the Kent Andersson Factory Husqvarna at its first race in 1966. It was one of 2 bikes, although both bikes were subtly different, the biggest difference was in the wheels. 

Kent Andersson on the bike, with Husqvarna mechanic Tommy Malm standing behind.

Kent on bike 31 with team mate Anders Bengtson on bike number 3 at their first race in Sweden, Skarpnack. Kent won, with Anders 2nd ! 

Rebuilt 4 speed engine.

At the end of the 1966 season, Husqvarna were no longer to offer any support to the GP race team and this bike was sold to UK Husqvarna Importer, Brian Leask. Leask sponsored some good riders on the bike throughout 1967, including Percy Tait who won a race at Mallory Park on it. Leask also then produced  and sold a few "replica's".