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Don Overall


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#1 Perruqueporte

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Posted 16 November 2012 - 05:58

Sad to report that former TT rider and road racer on two and three wheels, Don Overall, died last week. He was coming up to his 100th birthday.

He was a lovely old boy with a wicked sense of humour and a fund of fascinating and often hilarious stories about our sport and its many characters. He had been as sharp as a razor mentally and on very good form until a fall the other day, which precipitated his rapid decline. He was the oldest member of the Greenwich Motor and Motorcycle Club, and had been the star attraction in the club's first "An Audience With ...." conversation which I was privileged to host in March 2008, when he delighted a large gathering of enthusiasts with some extraordinary and very funny stories.

I will write a Don Overall retrospective in the next week or three, based on that and subsequent conversations, and will post some of it here for your amusement.

In the meanwhile, Don's funeral is next Wednesday 21st November, 12.30pm at Falconwood crematorium (Eltham, Kent).

Christopher W.

Christopher Wigdor
President, Greenwich Motor & Motorcycle Club
Founder Club, Brands Racing Committee & Kent Racing Combine which ran much of the
Motorcycle Road Racing at Brands Hatch from the 1950s to the 1990s

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#2 Tonka

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Posted 18 November 2012 - 01:37

Didn't Don work in a motorcycle shop in Lowfield Street, Dartford?

Edited by Tonka, 18 November 2012 - 01:37.


#3 Perruqueporte

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Posted 19 November 2012 - 08:05

Didn't Don work in a motorcycle shop in Lowfield Street, Dartford?


He had his own motorcycle business Overhill Motorcycles which i believe was in Welling.

After WW2 he worked for a while for Jack Surtees in the Surtees motorcycle business.

Christopher W.

#4 picblanc

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Posted 19 November 2012 - 09:54

He had his own motorcycle business Overhill Motorcycles which i believe was in Welling.

After WW2 he worked for a while for Jack Surtees in the Surtees motorcycle business.

Christopher W.

Posted Image

Chris McGahan on an Overhill Yamaha 1975.





#5 picblanc

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Posted 15 December 2012 - 10:51

imageshack are quick off the mark....Glenn got to sit in the naughty corner! :D

#6 GD66

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Posted 15 December 2012 - 13:53

Sigh... yes, it's big smacks for me....yet Claudia's been in touch to say my photos of Cal Rayborn on the morning of Pukekohe from off here have appeared in an American mag, apparently that's ok... :rolleyes:

#7 picblanc

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Posted 15 December 2012 - 17:14

Sigh... yes, it's big smacks for me....yet Claudia's been in touch to say my photos of Cal Rayborn on the morning of Pukekohe from off here have appeared in an American mag, apparently that's ok... :rolleyes:



Annoying isnt it!! :mad:





#8 GD66

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Posted 15 December 2012 - 21:36

Chris McGahan on an Overhill Yamaha 1975.


Don must have had a keen eye for talent to have backed McGahan, said in the article he had backed Pat Mahoney for years as well. Sounds like a good old stick.


#9 Tonka

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Posted 13 January 2013 - 19:20

Don must have had a keen eye for talent to have backed McGahan, said in the article he had backed Pat Mahoney for years as well. Sounds like a good old stick.


Which article ?



#10 picblanc

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Posted 13 January 2013 - 19:32

Which article ?




Glenn posted up a photo copy of magazine article through imageshack (I think) & imageshack did not like it (copyright breech) so its been removed.






#11 Tonka

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Posted 13 January 2013 - 20:14

Glenn posted up a photo copy of magazine article through imageshack (I think) & imageshack did not like it (copyright breech) so its been removed.



Bollocks



#12 picblanc

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Posted 13 January 2013 - 20:28

Bollocks



No tiz true.





#13 Tonka

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Posted 13 January 2013 - 21:09

No tiz true.



Bollocks as in bugger.



#14 picblanc

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Posted 13 January 2013 - 22:20

Bollocks as in bugger.


:rotfl: :rotfl: that does sound better!

#15 GD66

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Posted 13 January 2013 - 22:31

PM me your email if you like Tonka, and I will scan the article and email it to you. It's a two-pager out of The Classic Motor Cycle from last year.

#16 Tonka

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Posted 14 January 2013 - 15:24

PM me your email if you like Tonka, and I will scan the article and email it to you. It's a two-pager out of The Classic Motor Cycle from last year.



Done. Thanks



#17 Tonka

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Posted 20 January 2013 - 17:44

PM me your email if you like Tonka, and I will scan the article and email it to you. It's a two-pager out of The Classic Motor Cycle from last year.



Thanks again. I was right about Don working in Dartford. I must have seen him in Schweiso Brothers when I used to dream of owning one of the Triumphs they had.



#18 Bernard

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Posted 20 January 2013 - 22:50

I had some recollection of seeing the Overalls on a sidecar outfit at one of the first meetings I ever attended at Crystal Palace so I googled the names and came up with this

http://www.nortonclu...l...m=99&pos=54