Barber Vintage Swap, Race, and Show – Part 1

Story and Photos by Rodent

I’ve been meaning to get to the Barber complex for years and this vintage event gave me the perfect opportunity as it was on the way within a short detour to Biketoberfest.

With the future of the motorcycle industry tied to the economic future of the world it might be time to spend some effort investigating our past…

The 600 acre Barber complex is located in Leeds AL just outside of Birmingham on I-20 the road to Talladega. George Barber a local real estate mogul built this monument to himself with a fantastic racetrack, museum complex. The access roads and facilities are almost brand new and are superior to the Laguna Seca facilities in almost all respects except for location, location, location. The weather at Barber was hot, humid and stormy.

The swap meet should be divided into American, European, Japanese sections so those of us who have no interest in particular brands don’t have search for the marquees that they are interested in.

Bator of California had a vintage auction scheduled for Saturday with viewing before and we noticed vintage enthusiast John Parham of J&P Cycle nosing around the auction probably looking to add to his great Anamosa Iowa museum.