NEA Baptist Biker Classic

NEA Baptist Hospital is putting on its annual Biker Classic in downtown Jonesboro this weekend, so Charlie and Deb Parsons and I went downtown to see and be seen with our bikes.

Even though it wasn’t a Harley-Davidson, Charlie’s bike was probably the most admired among those lined up along the curb. It’s a 1939 BMW R12 done up in Afrika Korps livery, complete with repro leather panniers and a replica machine pistol.

It is one of two discovered sin crates ome years ago in the basement of a Spanish tavern where a couple of German soldiers left them for safekeeping after WWII. They were partially restored by a former Fort Worth, Texas BMW dealer. The other was painted in Wehrmacht gray. Charlie bought this one in 2005 and had Craig Vechorik complete the restoration at his shop in Sturgis, Miss.

Charlie chose not to enter it for competition in the bike show, but he surely would have won something if he had.

Lisa Godsey, co-owner of Godsey’s restaurant in downtown Jonesboro asked Charlie to bring the R12 and park it next to her H-D in front of the restaurant. We flanked those two bikes with my K1200GT and Deb’s R1200GS and spent the evening regaling onlookers with the saga of the R12.

Charlie wore his replica Afrika Korps M43 cap. I was halfway to town when it occurred to me that I should have brought my authentic Afrika Korps pith helmet for him to wear. I’ll bring it next year.