Old bikes and cars stop by Godfrey for a show

Craig Bakay | Sep 05, 2018

“I’ve been working with antique cars for 35 years,” said Godfrey Social Club’s Rick Law.

So it’s only natural that he’d develop relationships over that time and last Sunday he had a number of friends and customers stop by with some of their best bikes and cars for the second annual Car and Bike Show. Law has been operating a paint/body shop along with gas pumps and coffee shop at the corner of Westport Road and Road 38 for several years now along with his husky Skye.

“I take good care of everybody who comes in,” he said. “This year, we’re working with Guardians For Children and Ride For Kids.”

One of the more interesting bikes on display was Rob Verrier’s old Triumph 650 cc, which the Harrowsmith resident is in the process of ‘restoring’ and customizing.

“I stole it,” he joked when asked how he came by the relic he hopes to be riding by next summer. “It was originally a 650 Triumph Bonneville but it’s now ‘chopped’ with a hard tail and extended forks.”

(It kind of makes you think of Dennis Hopper’s chopper in Easy Rider . . . sorta.)

“It’s really just a time waster,” he said. “When I was young and foolish, I built choppers.

“Then I got into motocross and road racing with sidecars.

“Now I’ve come full-circle and I’m back to building choppers.”

Verrier said he’s always been partial to British bikes — Triumph, Norton, BSA — and his Portsmouth area accent probably explains that.

He’s got nothing against other brands however.

“When the Japanese road bikes came along, we weren’t all that interested in them but now if I came across one in an old barn, I’d be just as happy.”

And for this particular project, he’s pretty much just indulging himself.

“I’m not trying to build a show bike,” he said. “I’ll ride it but it will look real nice.”