There is no way that I would try to convince you that the Barber Museum in Birmingham, Alabama, is anything but spectacular — it is. The same can be said of the Guggenheim's Art of the Motorcycle exhibit that traveled the world at the beginning of this millennium. But after seeing former White Brothers-partner Tom White's The Early Years of Motocross Museum — I had to rethink what is cool. How about having a 5500-square-foot motorcycle museum at your house?!
It's one thing to visit an institution like the Barber Museum, which is very well-funded, employing curators, restoration specialists and so on, but White's collection is more along the lines of the ultimate dream garage. His private vintage MX collection is situated in a custom-built barn/garage on his property in Orange County, California. It is, in a word, stunning.
His collection contains over 100 bikes from AJS, BSA, Bultaco, Can-Am, Cotton, CZ, DKW, Ducati, Greeves, Harley-Davidson, Hodaka, Honda, Husky, Jawa, Maico, Matchless, Monark, Mondial, OSSA, Parilla, Penton, Rickman, Yamaha and Yankee. No museum would be complete without the accompanying memorabilia, which he also has in massive volume, including over 800 pictures and posters, vintage jerseys, boots, helmets and on and on.
Although the collection is private White hosts a few Burgers and Bikes nights each year. For more information, visit www.earlyyearsofmx.com.
—Blake Conner
