1997 showroom collection
Rod with a replica of
1938 500cc ‘works’ Ve-
locette. More than 40
KTT’s were built
Manx Norton from Christchurch 1980
Rod’s collection, and resulting
enterprise produced a total of 106 classic
motorcycles, both street and race models.
Following this, requests began to come in
from friends in New Zealand and Japan,
expanding the collection by a further
23 makes and models to a total of 129.
The original collection included mainly
Velocettes, Nortons, Excelsiors, AJS and
Matchless, AMC and NSU. The additional
models included Greeves, Ducati, Jawa, CZ,
Triumph, and MV Augusta.
Honda asked Rod to build them a 1930
Velocette KTT because “they knew that
1930 was the first year in which there
was both a Japanese and New Zealander
competing. My father, Percy, was the
New Zealander and the Japanese rider
was the Velocette distributor in Japan. He
finished 15th. Honda were overjoyed when
I supplied them with the complete Isle of
Man newspapers covering the two weeks
of practising and Racing”.
So, with the will to do something
constructive, which was never in short
supply as far as Rod Coleman was
Sharing your passion
facebo
ok.com
/Caffein
eAndCla
ssics