Resurrecting a rare 1959 Triumph T120 Bonneville connected to two iconic Prairie motorcycle dealers is a source of pride for John Ferguson. The Red Deer resident can trace the history of his Bonneville to the date it was assembled at Triumph’s factory in Meriden, England. Workers pieced the machine together on December 18, 1958. Shortly after it was crated and shipped to Nicholson Bros. Motorcycles in Saskatoon, the Triumph distributors for Alberta and Saskatchewan. The new Bonneville was then sent to Turple Bros. Motorcycles in Red Deer and sold by Glenn Turple on March 18, 1959, to Siegfried Paul of Stettler, Alberta.
“I got the Bonneville as a project bike in the late Eighties,” Ferguson explains. “I traded a snowmobile for it, and it needed a full restoration. Several pieces were missing, like the rear fender and the nacelle legs. It also had the incorrect gas tank.” In its past, someone had begun transforming the Bonneville into a chopper. Importantly, however, the motorcycle had matching engine and frame numbers, and Ferguson knew he had a unique machine worth saving.
Prior to 1959 and the Bonneville, Triumph’s performance bike was the 650cc Tiger 110, or T110. In 1956, when Johnny Allen of Fort Worth, Texas managed to travel 214.47 miles per hour across the Bonneville Salt Flats, he did it using a naturally aspirated but highly tuned parallel twin-cylinder T110 engine in a streamliner dubbed the Texas Ceegar. In 1958, Triumph replaced the production T110’s single carburetor iron cylinder head with an alloy head. Then, in 1959, Triumph introduced a twin-carburetor cylinder head for its 650cc motor and needed a name for the new model. Inspiration came from Allen’s record-setting run, and Triumph called it the Bonneville. Painted Pearl Grey and Tangerine it was a very distinctive performance motorcycle and sales were immediately impressive, particularly in the North American market. Triumph built the 650cc Bonneville, with only a few changes, through to 1970.
In 1971, the company redesigned the model with a new oil-bearing frame and different forks, wheels, fenders and headlight. These changes were not seen as improvements, and although Triumph continued producing the bike until the early 1980s, many enthusiasts consider the 1970 Bonneville the last of the line.
Uniquely, Ferguson’s 1959 Bonneville has a known history. After being sold by Turple Bros. Motorcycles, buyer Siegfried (Zeke) Paul rode it for several years and then traded it in on a new car. “The Bonneville showed up again in the Stettler area before Zeke bought it back with the hope of future restoration,” Ferguson says. “Then, I got it from Zeke in the late eighties and slowly began acquiring parts and pieces.”
Many components were found at Nicholson Bros. Motorcycles. In the mid-70s, Bernie Nicholson moved the shop from Saskatoon to Calgary, where he continued worldwide mail order service, selling British motorcycle parts to a growing community of restoration enthusiasts.
(Shameless plug here: I’ve written and published Prairie Dust, Motorcycles and a Typewriter, the complete history of Nicholson Bros. Motorcycles and their importance in the world of powered two-wheelers.) From Nicholson, Ferguson sourced a new old-stock cylinder block, gearbox parts and cables. “I was lucky to visit Bernie in the early Nineties just before he closed up the shop and sold all his remaining parts,” Ferguson says.
Several other small pieces came from Turple Bros. Motorcycles – making the Bonneville’s eventual complete restoration a full-circle affair.
Ferguson himself was a motorcycle dealer in the Red Deer area, first with Sylvan Lake Harley-Davidson and then, with a partner, Precision Cycle Works Ltd. from 1987 to 2015. He retired in ’15, and that’s when he focused on the Bonneville. He located a correct gas tank, and a rear fender was sourced in Calgary. All fasteners were dull zinc plated in Edmonton while paint was applied by Craig Cooksley of Bentley’s Moto Sicle Pain’ Tin. The late Dave Sauerberg restored the Smiths chronometric speedometer and Ferguson rebuilt the engine and 4-speed gearbox.
“I had it all together and unveiled it in 2019 at the Central Alberta Vintage Motorcycle Group rally in Ponoka,” Ferguson says of his ’59 Bonneville, where he and several others unofficially celebrated 60 years of Triumph’s Bonneville. Glenn Turple, the man who first sold the Bonneville, was reunited with the bike at that event.
Ferguson says his Triumph won’t be at this year’s Ponoka Rally from July 26 to 28, but Turple will be. There are plans to celebrate the Red Deer motorcycle retailer’s 96th birthday. For more information about the rally, visit cvmg.ca or email [email protected].
Greg Williams is a member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC). Have a column tip? Contact him at 403-287-1067 or [email protected]
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