Having hopped up the motor with a hot carb, the rest of the bike couldn’t hack it, with the wheel bearings collapsing at 80mph. Miraculously, Perry walked away virtually uninjured but the frame was bent and the petrol tank split, so he flogged the parts and forgot all about it.
The bits of bike stayed in circulation in the custom motorcycle scene and nearly 50 years later, Roland got the opportunity to buy the frame and reunite his dad with the Puffer with the goal of rebuilding the machine from scratch together.
At first they looked at using a stock frame, considering the original frame had been badly crashed, but after lots of checking, measuring and fiddling they came to the conclusion it could be rescued.