CLASSICS
T
WORDS AND PHOTOS:
Rhys Jones
THE COLEMAN
COLLECTION
he passing of Rod Coleman
marks one of the most significant
milestones in the motorcycling
history of this country. He was more than
New Zealand’s first Isle of Man T.T. winner,
and Grand Prix World Championship
works rider. He was also almost
unbeatable in this country, and highly
successful in Australia.
Rod’s father Percy was born in 1897,
two years before the first motorcycle
was introduced to New Zealand. He
became one of the first successful racers
in the country, and his sons Rod and Bob
followed in his footsteps. They were also
to continue the motorcycle business in
Wanganui which their father had started.
With Rod’s racing days over and a
successful business about to be bought
1997 showroom collection
by Suzuki, as always, his search for a new
challenge began. I received the following
letter from Rod on September 12th 2011.
Dear Rhys,
when I sold all my businesses to the Suzuki
Motor Co. I was only 59, and had no idea of
how to keep myself busy in future years. So,
Jackie [Rod’s wife] and I went to Europe for six
months to see if I could get some sort of new
idea for something to do. Amazingly, I found
that motorcycles could still be included in
the new idea, when I found out that pre-war
classic motorcycles were climbing in value at
an amazing rate. Whilst running the Suzuki
business I had been too busy to even look at
the value of old motorcycles.
So, I got into motorcycles again by
wandering around England and Europe,