A cool e-mail from Clay…

Whoa!  Check out this recent e-mail exchange with our good buddy Clay!

******************************************************

Message: My 1950 Mustang Motorcycle 

Mine was a red with yellow wheels and one of the first, if not the first, Mustang Motorcycles in El Paso.  My headlight was mounted in line with the tank and was larger than the one shown in your old ads – and it had a Plexiglas windscreen.  I had a luggage rack on the back with black saddle bags.  The exhaust was on the right side. I cut the guts out of the muffler – gave it a “mighty roar.”  Cost me every penny I had in the bank – all $350.00. I was 13 years old – the legal age at that time in Texas.  I paid for it with earnings from a paper route that I started on a bicycle.  The Mustang allowed me to finish my route faster so the route manager gave me a second route. 

While on my way to school one morning I got “t-boned” on my left side when a car ran a stop sign.  The Mustang was on top of me and the car was on top of the motorcycle.  The police surmised I bailed off at the last minute but trapped my right leg.  At age fourteen I received a fractured right femur, three broken ribs on the left side, broken right hand, concussion and bruises, cuts and abrasions all over from my ankles to my head (no helmet in those days).  The winter of 1951 I spent four weeks in the hospital after surgeons pounded an 18-inch long titanium rod down the center of my femur rather than putting me in a cast from my ankle to my chest.  I was on crutches for another couple of months. Mine was the fifth such operation in the U.S. and the first in the western states.  There was no rehab in those days – just do it yourself. 

When I was able to bend my knee more than 90 degrees I got my Mustang out of the repair shop and started riding again.  I was having muscle spasms in my right hip and lower back, whenever I rode, so I finally had to sell it and buy a car.  I miss my “Glendale Vibrator.” 

A friend told me about the “new Mustang” you now call a “scooter.”  What’s that all about? It’s not a motorcycle any more?

Clay

******************************************************

Mr. Baker:

Joe here; I write the blog for CSC.   Thanks for writing to us!

May I have your permission to use your letter on our blog?

Do you have photos of you and your Mustang?

I had the same surgery you did a little more than a year ago, for essentially the same reason.

If you are in our area, we would love to have you visit us.

Thanks very much.

Joe

******************************************************

Joe and Steve:

By all means you can use my letter on your blog. I have not been able to find a single photo of me and my Mustang.  My sister has all my mother’s photo albums – perhaps she can find one in there.

It’s been sixty years since my Mustang riding days. Makes me feel old just thinking about that!

I would love to visit you and see what modern technology has done for the Mustang. I have a friend here in the south bay that told me about CSC and is also interested in one of your bikes. Perhaps we can arrange to ride out to Brackett Airfield together.

Best regards,

Clay

******************************************************

Clay, we really appreciate hearing from you…and your note to us is a great one.   We love hearing from our blog followers and riders, and we especially enjoy hearing from folks who owned or who currently own Mustangs.

Glad to hear about your complete recovery, and thanks for pioneering that femur repair approach.  It’s still working well, and you and I are the proof of that!

Your question about our “Scooter” moniker is a good one.   When Steve started the California Scooter Company, he named the company after our home state and what we have called our motorcycles (of any sort) since Day One.  Harleys, Triumphs, Indians….we called them all “Scooters.”  Personally, I really like the name, but it has caused some confusion in the market place.  Most folks today think of a scooter as something along the lines of a Vespa.  We now refer to ourselves as CSC Motorcycles for just that reason (but the “S” in CSC stills stands for “Scooter”).

You let us know when you are ready to visit our plant, and we’ll roll out the red carpet for you!  And not having a photo of you and your Mustang is no problem.  When you visit us I’ll personally grab a photo of you on one of our CSC motorcycles.  We have a couple of original Mustangs here, and if you want, I’ll get a photo of you on one of those, too!

Thanks again!