SINBAD RETURNS

by Mario Mager

(Now with Thumbnails)

I would like to start by thanking all the people who went to all the trouble of writing to me and for phoning, to say how much they enjoyed my article "Turkish Delight". It made all the hard work involved well worth the effort. This has prompted and encouraged me to compile a similar article on my second visit to Jawa Paradise. If there are any new club members out there to the JAWA-CZ Owners Club and who may have missed the issues of Torque when "Turkish Delight" was featured, I have some spare copies of this epic. So if you would like a copy just send me a stamped addressed envelope. You will find it of particular interest if you are thinking of going to Turkey on your holidays, and is especially interesting if you are interested in the older model Jawas.

The location we selected for our second visit to Turkey was Kusadasi. We had the kids with us this time, so we needed to go somewhere that was likely to satisfy their needs. This resort is about a 150 miles further north from Fethiye. I was particularly interested to find out how different this area would be especially regards as to what sort of motorcycles would be seen here.

Kusadasi is a very fancy resort type of town. It has a large harbour where exotic cruise liners are continually coming and going. There are lots of fancy Hotels, some with their own diving schools and Turkish baths. So it would appear that generally there is more money about in this area, due to the large influx of holiday makers. This is fine if you are the average holiday maker, but not so good if you are an ancient Jawa hunter! The most popular two wheeled vehicle again, was the humble moped. Mobylette and Peugeot being the most popular. The larger bikes were quite a different variety to what I had seen in Fethiye last year. There appeared to be a lot of old BMWs in this area. Surprisingly there were quite a few of the old 250cc single models. They were all immaculately kept. I even saw one in bright yellow! These bikes were not owned by the average Turk. They were owned by the in-town shopkeepers who had more money in their pockets to keep such a bike on the road. They were obviously well cared for, and each model I saw was in tip-top condition. I was unable to find out why there was such a lot of these BMWs in this area. I should imagine that it has something to do with the fact that Izmir is only about 30 miles to the North of here, and Izmir is an important city regarding imports and exports, as it has a large harbour and a well established Airport. Izmir is also where Czech motorcycles are imported into the country. I would have liked to have found this importer, and had a look around, but I just did not have enough time to visit Izmir even though we were on a three week holiday. Time flies by very fast when the sun is out every day!

It was two full days before I spotted a Jawa. The most popular Jawas here were the more modern 638 twin sport models, with quite a few of the very latest 640 models about too. Some of the 640 were in colours that are not in our UK brochure, including black, metallic green and several non metallic colours such as blue and red. Whether these bikes are sprayed up in these colours in Izmir when they are imported I do not know. They may be specially sprayed up in the Czech factory for the Turkish market. So at last I was beginning to see a good presence of Czech bikes. What I really needed was to find a Jawa owner that could speak enough English to let me know where I could find a Jawa shop.

I soon heard the familiar sound of an un-baffled twin-port (559) approaching. I was glad to see that there were still a few older Jawas about here in the North. I saw this bike a few times while we were in town, but never did I find it parked up anywhere. It was used as many Jawas are used in Turkey, as a shopping vehicle. I scouted around the industrial areas and back streets to no avail. I could just could not find a Jawa shop anywhere. Then one day while I was buying some postcards, I found a chap who spoke very good English. I showed him my photos of my old 559, before and after restoration. I told him that I managed to buy many of the parts needed to complete this project in Turkey last year. I wanted to find a similar shop in this area, so that I could stock up for my next project (a 1964 Jawa 354). He said he didn't know but went out of the shop to ask some of his neighbouring shopkeepers. He came back with a gem of information. There is no Jawa shop in Kusadasi. The nearest Jawa dealer was in the next town Söke, which was about 25kms away. It was just as well I found out this vital information, as I could have wasted a lot of time searching for a shop that did not exist. So my next step would be make plans to visit this nearby town, and somehow find the Jawa shop.

Söke was more my kind of town. It was obviously a market town, with lots of trade shops as opposed for the souvenir type. There were loads of old vehicles running around. The biggest surprise for me was when I saw a Skoda Octavia pick-up truck! My Dad had the saloon version of this vehicle when I was a kid. I haven't seen one in England ever since. Here in Söke I not only saw one, but many of them before I was to return to Kusadasi. This town had all the signs of a place where there should be a shop for old Jawas!

When I got off at the bus station I noticed a Jawa 559 parked up, and a couple of people sitting around it. I went over and introduced myself and showed them my photos of my own 559. Now that we were on understanding terms, even though we could not speak each other's language. With the help of some very expressive gestures, I asked the whereabouts of a Jawa shop in Söke. (I must learn the Turkish name for "Shop" before I visit Turkey again!). I was promptly taken to a yellow Taxi. The driver was told of my needs and off we went. This is very often the only way of finding a specific place in an unknown town. If you were trying to find somewhere just by wandering around, there is a good chance of you tiring yourself out before you reach your goal. I don't mind paying for a Taxi in cases like this, but what I do object to is when a Taxi driver takes you the long way round, so that his meter will clock up more, and hope that you do not notice! I am blessed with a very good sense of direction, and rarely get lost in strange places. I was sure that we were taking the long route, but I would not be absolutely sure until I had to walk back to the bus station from the shop. If he had used a more direct route, I would have given him a much larger tip. So at the end of the day, he lost out, as it was his petrol that was used to carry out this slight deception! Anyhow, I was now outside a Jawa shop. Would Sinbad find any treasure here?

Once inside the shop. I received the usual Turkish greeting. I was soon sat down drinking Turkish tea. Out came my photograph album, which was to be my 1995 Jawa passport. In addition to last year's photos, I had progressive photos of my 559, as it was in various stages of restoration. This served at least two purposes. It indicated what particular model Jawa I was interested in, and it acted like a shopping catalogue, as all I had to do was point to various parts in the photos, and ask if he had that particular part. This dealer (Mr. Malay) though, did know just a few English words. His shop was crammed with stock. Sadly it reflected the general selection of Jawas to be seen in the streets. About 80% of his stock was for the modern Jawas (638 Twin sport and 640 Style). But nonetheless, I could still spot quite a few older parts amongst the jumble of stock he had in his shop. I was amazed at how many pistons he had on the shelf! He also had complete crankshaft assemblies for 638s and 559s! The ceiling was festooned with petrol tanks of all sorts, and colours, all except the one I was looking for, a chrome sided tank for a 559/360/354!. While telling you about what he did not have, I will tell you about the other items I was unable to purchase. I could not get any split rubber trim, whereas the dealer in Fethiye had it on a roll! He had no fork leg bottoms, or grab handles. My shopping list soon had a lot of items deleted from it. A shopping list is a must when going on such an excursion, as when you get home weeks later, you will kick yourself for all the things you forgot! I try to compile my "wanted" list well before I get there. I did manage to get some more spokes for my 354 project, a new top nacelle, and a complete headlamp unit. The best purchase at this time was a brand new ignition switch. Not the usual one with the pimple type key, but the older type with a proper key. So I in fact did manage to get a few goodies that were on my list. One item I would have liked have purchased was a Turkish made seat cover. I showed the dealer photos of Turkish Jawas with these brightly coloured seat covers fitted to them. He indicated that he had none, but could order one. He got on the phone and ordered one for me. He told me when it would arrive. He wrote down for me the Turkish word for seat cover. He wrote "Jawa Minder", which surprised me, as I thought the Turkish word for cover was "Cahvi". I could of course have no say as to what sort of colour this seat cover was going to be. All I knew from experience is that it would be a very colourful one.

Now that all the essential matters had been done, we just sat there drinking yet another glass of tea and enjoyed our mutual interest in Czech motorcycles. In England we also offer guests to our home a cup of tea, and go and put the kettle on. In Turkey though, especially in shops, they never seem to have their own kettle! So each time you are offered some tea, the patron usually goes outside into the street and shouts across to another shop, and soon after the tea is brought into the shop. As we were sat there supping, the dealer related to me some very interesting bits of information. The spokes that I had bought were not in fact made in Turkey but in Finland! And 6 Volt dynamos are made in Bulgaria! The Silencers and down pipes that I bought last year for my 559 are made in Bursa. Bursa is situated well to the north of Izmir yet south of Istanbul. There is no need to go to Bursa to purchase 559/360 Silencers, as most dealers seemed to stock them. It is just amazing how much information you can glean, despite an obvious language problem. One useful word I learnt which was quite easy was "fiyati", which is Turkish for price. As you can imagine, I used this word a lot while I was in the Jawa shop. I bid farewell to Mr. Malay, and made my way back to the bus station.

When I arrived back in Kusadasi I felt quite pleased with myself, that I in fact achieved my goal of finding a Jawa shop, and managed to obtain some essential items on my shopping list. It would be another bus trip back to the hotel, so I thought that I would have another wander around and see if I could find anymore interesting bikes. It was a market day in  Kusadasi, and there are usually a lot more vehicles about on a market day, as many people come into town for their shopping needs. Sadly I did not find any older Jawas parked up. Most were the later 638 models. I did have one surprising moment though. As I was waiting to cross the street I could hear an old Jawa approaching. I was in no hurry to cross, so I waited for it to pass. Much to my surprise it was a model 11! I eyed this rare beast until it was just a speck in the distance. I was hoping that he may pull over somewhere enabling me to get a good photo of it. No such luck!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with a model 11. It is one of the oldest twin-port Jawa models around. It was produced from about 1948 to 1956. I have only have ever seen two in England. These are both owned by stalwart club members Dave Widdowson and Roger Gibson. This design was in fact was of "OGAR" origin, and became part of the Jawa group, when the communists government in Czechoslovakia nationalised various industries and was encompassed in with the Jawa and CZ plants. Interestingly, even today the Turks refer to the older model Jawas as "Jawa Ogar", they do not understand such affectionate terms as "Twin-port", as many bikes in Turkey have twin exhausts like the Minsk, Voshkod and old Russian 350 singles, and of course their own Jawa copy, the JW-Laser. So if you are ever shopping for parts for your old Jawa in Turkey, be sure to use the phrase "Jawa Ogar".

I meandered my way through the back streets and stumbled across the local Post Office depot. This was something that I was unable to find earlier. I was very pleased to discover that even though Kusadasi had more up market bikes around, the Post Office though, are still using old Czech bikes! Parked in the depot were two bikes. An old 559 and a CZ model 450! The old CZ was a very interesting find, as I did not see any of these last year down in the south. As they were both working bikes, they were a bit on the scruffy side. I tried to make out the year of manufacture on the headstock plates, but they were both illegible. At a rough guess I would put the 559 as about 1970, and the 450 at 1965. They were both in the usual Post Office colours of black and cream. On the lovely deep valanced mudguards (I want one by the way for my 354!) instead of a front number plate (which is not required in Turkey, as in most countries now) there were the letters P.T.T. , This stands for Postal, Telegraf, Telefon.

Before I made my way back to the Hotel I thought that I might as well stop and have a large Beer in one of the numerous bars on the way back. As I sat there with my large Beer which cost all of 30 pence, I thought, I think I am getting to like this country. I wonder what other surprises I will have before our holiday is over?

One day we set off on an outing to a small village in the mountains. The coach parked up and we proceeded to have a guided tour of this tiny community. As this was a very small mountain village, I thought that the chance of seeing any notable Jawas would be minimal, so I left my 8mm video tape which I had used exclusively to film vehicles in Turkey back in the hotel room. We use a separate tape for holiday scenes. That way there is no complaints when these tapes are viewed back at home. Sadie brought the Camcorder along as there would bound to be some spectacular views from up in the mountains. We saw an old church, went inside a typical Turkish house where we had a free glass of Turkish tea, and just by chance the lady of the house happened to make her own tablecloths. These were duly spread out before us with the intention that some of our party may want to purchase them. This was truly the definition of a captive audience! I have been in a lot worse situations though, once in Morocco, but that is another story!

The next stop was the Mosque. Outside the Mosque was a scruffy 640 red-style. I found it interesting to note that it had a proper ignition key as opposed to the PAL pimple key. This village is not as primitive as I thought it would be! Our tour of the town ended with lunch and a glass of local wine (œ1 a bottle!) in the village center. Lucas said that he had just saw a Jawa go by that looked brand new. This bike returned and parked in the town square a little later. From a distance I could see that it was not a 640 model but a 638 twin sport. I could not understand why he should think it was brand new. So I went over to have a closer look at it. I now could see why he made such a mistake. Whoever owned this Jawa was obviously an enthusiast as there were loads of parts on it that had been chromed. No wonder it looked like a new bike! These were some of the parts that had been chromed. Headlamp brackets, Ignition switch mounting plates, front engine plates, swinging arm, anchorage bar, rear sprocket chain enclosure, bottom yoke, shock absorber springs and many other small items too numerous to list. The alloy parts such as the engine cases and brake plates were also polished up to a mirror like finish (Mally Morgan and Stuart Thompson would have given this bike approving nods!).

This was not to be the last surprise of the day, or of the entire holiday to come to that. We were soon travelling down the mountain, following the very windy road down to sea level. We came into the town of Selcuk, which is the nearest town to the ancient site of the city of Ephesus. I have been in this town a few times, I even found a shop that sold a few Jawa parts, but in general this town did not have anything to "write home about" as we say in England. As I sat there quite complacently I suddenly had an attack of "my face is stuck to the window!" I saw a Jawa (559) parked besides it's owner. This in itself is not an uncommon sight. The colour scheme though was, I feel, unique! This bike had been thoroughly restored and re-sprayed in a non standard colour. The colour the owner selected was metallic purple! I have seen modern Jawas in this colour both in Turkey and in the UK. But never have I seen an old Jawa in this colour. It looked really splendid in this livery. The only frustrating snag was that the bus was not due to stop in this town, there was no way I could capture this fine machine on film. Even if I had my camera ready in my hands, I would never have managed a shot. After pulling myself out of the doldrums, I decided that as this town was not too far away from Kusadasi, I could catch a bus one day and see if I could capture this rare Jawa on film. Even in a Jawa infested country, to be able to find a specific bike, in a specific town, was indeed a very long shot. At least it would give me a chance and excuse to explore this town more fully.

A few days later an opportunity did arise for me to venture out on my own and set off to explore Selcuk. My family had resolved themselves to lounging around the pool that day, so I slung my camera equipment around my neck, and set off to catch one of the local mini buses. (known as a "Dolmus", which is the Turkish word for "crush", so one does not have to be super intelligent to work out what it is like to travel on such vehicles!) It was when I alighted the Dolmus at the bus station at Selcuk that I had a very nice surprise. There in the bus station standing all alone was an old Jawa. It was easily noticeable, as it was all in white! When I got closer to it, I was amazed to discover that it was in fact a model 360! (350cc twin) now up and until this point, I had never seen a 360 anywhere in Turkey. I had been informed last year by a Turkish dealer that there were some 360s to be found in Turkey, but not many. In the South, I never came across one solitary example. Now I was faced not only with a rarity, but a rarity in an even rarer colour! You are welcome to prove me wrong if you wish, but I have never heard of any old Jawas in white in any of the western countries, as I now have quite a good selection of old brochures (Thanks Reese!). I did though meet a chap at the Stafford show, who claimed that there were some "special" white Jawas to be seen in Turkey, that came from a specific area in Turkey. Could it be that this was one of those special Jawas? or was it the result of an enthusiastic owner, who might have been fed up with the usual maroon livery of the older Jawas?

Either way. It was a most impressive sight. Not only did the paint job appear to be original and in good order. The engine had been buffed up quite well also. I made certain that I got plenty of footage on video tape of this rare sight. It goes without mention, that I will have all these photos with me at next year's National Rally. So if you want a look at them, just give me tap on the shoulder, and I will get them out. The year of manufacture, by the way, was 1967. As I have mentioned earlier, Turkish Jawas seem not to tally with the ones we normally see in the West. It interestingly had a nice chromed sided petrol tank as opposed to one with separate panels. I am not sure which petrol tank a 1967-UK-360 would have fitted to it. When these tanks changed over from chrome sided to chrome panels I don't know. If there are any 354/360 buffs out there, perhaps you would like to let me know. The only thing that let this bike down was that it's owner obviously could not get proper 360 down pipes for it. He had bodged and buckled a set of 559 down pipes on to it, to make them fit. Apart from that, it was truly a splendid machine. The weird thing was, that even though I spent a lot of time looking over this bike, and photographing it from all sorts of angles in a busy bus station, that nobody in the vicinity was a bit bothered about my interest in it. I was half expecting it's owner to appear from somewhere, but he didn't!

To go out on a Jawa Safari, and to find such a bike so early in the day, was surely a lucky find. It was worth coming to this town just to see this one bike. I wonder what else I could find?

I tramped around the various back streets and busy shopping streets and found quite a few Jawas of both old and new models. One old Jawa was in a sickly light green and maroon! As this town seemed to have a few odd coloured Jawas, and as I was in search of a particular metallic purple coloured Jawa. Perhaps I should refer to this town as "Jawa Spectrum City?". It certainly bore the greatest variety of Jawa liveries!

Sad to say, that despite my systematic and diligent search through the streets of this town. I did not in fact find this rare beast. It could have belonged to any amount of people living out in the hills. None the less it was a town full of surprises. I soon saw yet another 360 buzz past me. Later on that day I found another 360 parked up next to an old CZ! (450). There certainly seemed to be quite a few 360s in this area, as well as older CZs which were virtually non existent in the south. I wonder how these bikes were kept running, if they were not so common as the 559s? Perhaps the dry climate helped a bit to reduce the need for any serious engine parts? Needless to say, it was nice to find something different. It had been a good days hunting, so I caught the next Dolmus back to the Hotel. The third and final week of our holiday was soon upon us. It is amazing how fast time flies when you are having fun. This was also the week when I was due to pay my last visit to the Jawa shop in Söke, and hopefully collect my new seat cover.

Upon arrival at Mr. Malay's shop, he greeted me with some of the few English words he knew. "Welcome to my shop! Please sit. You want some Chi?" (Tea). He had a big smile on his face, so it would seem that the part that I had been waiting for must have arrived. Once I was seated he put the ordered part on my lap. I was bowled over by surprise, as it was not merely a seat cover, but a complete seat! It consisted of a brand new seat pan and sponge, fitted with a hand made seat cover! The colours were so loud that they rattled the windows! It was basically a black seat cover with white trim bands. But there was also a great amount of orange, with just a hint of purple! It was truly a beautiful work of art. The only problem was that I couldn't see it blending in with any of the colour schemes of any of my project bikes, so I told him to send it back. (Only kidding!) It was just as well as I was already sitting down, as it was truly a stunning surprise. The only problem that arose from this surprise purchase was, that I had to buy a new large holdall to enable me to bring it back home. Luckily it was Market day in Soke, so I managed to get one easily before I caught the Dolmus back to Kusadasi.

I sat there drinking my Tea with this amazing seat across my knees. It was going to be last visit to this Town and shop, so I was in no hurry to leave. I of course remembered a few little items I required from my (mental) shopping list. Mr. Malay also, was in no hurry to see me go. It was really pleasant sitting there seeing and hearing Jawa owners pull up and come into the shop and purchase parts for their bikes. It is just a shame that I could not understand what they were saying. I eventually bid my final farewell to Mr. Malay and his nice shop. I of course made sure that I had his name and address written down, and safely stashed in my wallet, so if any of my buddies in the JAWA- Z Owners Club ever plan to holiday in the area, I will gladly be able too point them in the right direction.

My family could not understand why, when I returned, I had this new large bag in my hands. I pulled out the multi coloured seat, and told them the story. They found my story highly amusing, and were soon suffering from stitches! My wife though, being of a very practical nature said "Never mind. There is still plenty of room in that bag. I am sure that I can fill it up after I have been to the Market tomorrow!"

The final day of our superb holiday arrived. I don't know about you, but I hate the final day, as you wish that you could be beamed home by a teleporter instead of going through all the travelling, red tape and procedure. What I find especially distasteful is waiting around for ages in a smoke ridden Turkish Airport where none of the windows open! At least Manchester Airport had smoke free zones for a healthy retreat. We waited outside our Hotel in the glorious sunshine waiting for our coach. We were trying to imagine what sort of weather would greet us when we got back to the UK. October would likely greet us with grey clouds and rain.

On the coach, while we were travelling to the Airport, we had to go through the town of Selcuk. Just try and guess what bike I saw momentarily while we travelled through it? Yes. That elusive and lovely metallic purple twin-port Jawa! THE END.

© Mario Mager