In Malta, many classic car enthusiasts, besides their old vehicle, also profess a love for, and possess, an old motorcycle. For some, the old car came first, followed by the motorcycle. However, others were always motorcycle aficionados, and then an interest in classic vehicles subsequently followed.
Without any shadow of a doubt, John Baldacchino falls perfectly into the latter group. Moreover, with a collection of over 80 old motorcycles, 40 in a roadworthy condition and the rest awaiting restoration, it can also safely be said that his collection, meticulously displayed in a clinically clean and thoroughly organised basement garage in Ghaxaq, can be described as Malta’s largest private old motorcycles museum – not to mention many old bicycles and his childhood tricycle.
“My interest in the powerful two-wheeler goes back to my childhood, even though there was no one in the family remotely connected with them,” he says. “From the age of 12, I started buying motorcycle magazines. By 17, I was driving them, and in the years that followed, I owned a number of motorcycles.”
As often happens, there was an eventual lull where he broke off with motorcycles to do other things in life. However, in 1984, he met a friend, Stephen Zerafa, who rekindled in him his old passion.
“Encouraged by him, I bought a battered 1944 Matchless G3L and started to restore it. By the time I finished the project, I had bought another three old motorcycles, and I started building my collection.”
Taking 1976 as the cut off date, John started looking around for older motorcycles to purchase.
While I love all my old bikes and cars, I have a soft spot for 1930s machines
“In the late 1980s, it was not difficult to amass motorcycles, as people started falling under the Japanese invasion spell, disregarding other brands, and relegating them to the scrapheap.”
John started buying all sorts of marques, from BSA, Matchless, Ducati, Douglas, AJS, Triumph and Norton to Ariel, Excelsior, Lambretta, Honda, Royal Enfield, Velocette and Legnano.
The oldest specimen in his possession is a 1925 Raleigh. Some have a story to tell, like a French Moto Becane 19 which came to Malta as a sample, was never sold or used, and was found in a garage full of spares for sale. Military motorbikes also feature prominently.
Obviously, some of these two-wheelers came to John on their last legs. Yet, despite their battered condition, he undertook their restoration with verve and determination, doing everything himself.
John Baldacchino. Photos by Tony Vassallo, Old Motors Club“My professional career was in administration, nothing to do with technical or mechanical aspects,” explains the self-taught John. “I just watched how it was done, and got on with it.”
His fervour for motorcycles has also seen him serving for the past 21 years as a committee member of the Historic Motorcycle Club – Malta, eight of them as chairperson, besides membership of the Military Vehicles Collectors Club and the UK Vintage Motor Cycle Club.
John has a policy to not sell any motorcycle unless he has a similar one. It happened that in 1996, he part-exchanged an old bike for a 1969 MGB GT, and the two-wheelers subsequently started to find four-wheeler companions in the classic stable.
“The vehicle, in British racing green, was in a very good condition, and still is, two decades down the line, without undergoing any major overhaul.”
Sometime later, John went looking for spare motorcycle parts in a garage full of vehicles and parts, saw a BMW Isetta, fell in love with it, and bought it. The Isetta was an Italian designed micro car which, because of its egg shape and bubble windows, became known as the ‘bubble car’. Only six were imported in Malta by Frans Service Station of Fgura, the then BWM local agents.
“The 1958, 300cc little vehicle was in a very bad condition – everything was there, but a nut and bolt restoration job was on the cards. I carried out all the work by myself, a task that took one and a half years.”
In the process, John changed its colour from maroon to wedgewood blue, and became a member of the Isetta Owners Club of Great Britain.
John has an English friend who visits the island annually. Eight years ago, John visited his friend who lives in Buxton, and knowing his interest in old motors, took him to a neighbour who had an old car.
“To my surprise, the old car was a 1935 BSA – I had no idea that BSA Cycles also produced cars. Obviously, I did not hide my intentions of wanting to buy the car, but the owner refused. I kept pleading with him for the next five years, until eventually he gave in.”
The 1090cc, front-wheel drive, 12-volt electric vehicle was in an impeccable condition, so much so that John uses it regularly to take part in local rallies as well as driving in Sicily, a favourite destination with his other cars and bikes.
Besides his three roadworthy old motors, John also has a similar number awaiting restoration. One is a 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia found in a garage with spare parts. There is also a 1962 BMW 700 coupe, a sole model in Malta which John says was imported by the local agent together with five saloons of the same type. Finally, there’s a 1981 Toyota Celica that John bought himself brand new and wanted to sell, but luckily, his wife Doris persuaded him otherwise. John has two sons, Peter and James, who besides following their father in his passion for old cars and bikes, also possess their own classic motorcycles.
What is his favourite old motorcycle and vehicle?
“While I love all my old bikes and cars, I have a soft spot for 1930s machines. In that decade, there were great technical and mechanical changes, an industrial revolution. In cars, for example, wooden-spoked wheels turned into steel rimmed wheels. Motorcycles evolved from oversized bicycles into the modern layout concept that we still have today. I harbour no favourites, but for these reasons, I consider my 1936 350cc AJS, having a twin port engine, hand change gear system with chrome tank adorned with an instrument panel, as a trailblazer, a gentleman’s bike. As to the old cars, I can say that the BSA presents no problems – it’s just start and drive, despite being an octogenarian!”
On one hand, John is very happy with the local old motors scene. He contends that given the size of the island, we have the biggest concentration of old cars and bikes in Europe. The workmanship of the technical and mechanical personnel who undertake restoration projects is second to none. However this highly skilled group is ageing and passing away, and unfortunately not enough young blood is replacing it. On the same lines, John, who belongs to a number of local old car and motorcycle clubs, also laments the lack of young members is such organisations. Finally, he is perturbed about the quality of today’s fuel and its ethanol content – something which he claims is detrimental to old engines, especially if left there for too long.