By Bradley Brownell
The time has come, my friends, to declare a victor in the 2016 Hooniversal Car of the Year proceedings. And it isn’t even a car. Or running. Or finished. It may not be any of those things, but it certainly is awesome, and as voted by the fans, deserving of the victory, and by extension, the much-vaunted and highly coveted participation ribbon.
As with most votes in 2016, this one held a major upset that the vote organizers could never have predicted, and even the nominee was almost not nominated without a little cajoling from Jeff and a bit from me. Did anyone expect it to win? Not really, not even our resident Motorcycle Maven Tanshanomi. Click the jump to see more.
Here is that cajoling I was talking about. Jeff plays the part of the good cop, convincing Pete that surely there must be something he’s enthusiastic enough to write about. Meanwhile, I play the part of the tyrannical dictator. Ultimately we convinced him to make this nomination happen, and you all made it your HCOTY.
So here it is, your HCOTY victor; The “BMW Alpha” custom streamliner motorcycle, having taken 35% of the overall vote with 223 votes. Even someone like me, who has very little motorcycle affinity, can admit that this project is really cool. It’s minimalist and yet full of details, it’s a gorgeous affectation of modern component design mixed with 1950s design language. The builder is a better man than I, for getting even this far with a project.
The design was initiated by a Turkish designer named Mehmet Doruk Erdem, and you can see his original renderings on this design website. Then, a bike designer in Salt Lake City (who goes by Makr on the ADVRider forums) decided to make this bike a reality with a wrecked BMW K75 that was sitting around in his back yard. The guy is still in the process of building the bike, but looks close to finishing it, as there were updates to his build thread as recently as a week ago. The truth is, there were a ton of really great nominations this year, and any one of them deserved to win this prestigious award, but only one of them got the votes. Makr, sir, here is your ribbon.
If you want to read more about this project, here is the original design post, here is the bike’s build thread over on ADVRider, and here is Tanshanomi’s nomination post.
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Jeff Glucker
…but, like, Tanshanomi wasn’t even trying! Nice turn of events, though.
So, the fix is in? Except this time it’s Turkish motorcycle enthusiasts instead of Poles?
We like Turkish coffee and are not above bribes…
https://i.imgflip.com/1hd92f.jpg
YOU PEOPLE!!!
Don’t blame me, I voted for
McMullin …oops wrong contextthe Challenger II.https://i.imgflip.com/1hcz1h.jpg
The true honor lies in crushing all of one’s opponents, but I’m keeping the Allegro anyway.
Where’s the vote table?
On the vote page? Where you voted?
That helps explain why my wife looks for a periodic table every month.
Yeah, but…convenience?
An unfinished mostly useless motorcycle as Car of the year? I will be over at Jalopnik if you need me.
YOU PEOPLE VOTED FOR IT!!!
Bye.
YOU people voted for it,not me.
Not MY HCOTY, eh?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, I’ve already been educated twice in the last year about the irrelevance of the popular vote.
I won’t be over at Jalopnik, but I don’t get the love for this thing either. I appreciate the craftsmanship for sure, but my vote went to the GT86 cup car (and not the butchered drift thingy either), because even though it’s pretty “normal” by Hooniverse standards I guarantee you’d have more fun in it than anything else on the list. The Bowman things nice if you like sleeping in the arse end of nowhere I guess, at least it could tow the GT86…
While I agree with your sentiments (except returning to that J site) for all the same reasons, I appreciate the tradition of HCOTY frequently getting it wrong due to outside influences. Or just getting it wrong.
Still, who among us hasn’t fostered an unfinished useless project (*coughWOMBAT/SKYLINERcough*) for far too long?
But don’t be surprised if one day mangled pieces of it are found in the underside of Bowman’s front bumper.
I should have known it would be disastrous to alienate the Skyliner vote.
I do not know what that means ,but I am with you 100%
That’s fine. I don’t know the meaning of most of what I say.
Yeah, a little more gravy would be lovely, thanks.
Yes, but that’s expected. You’re in Academics.
Why does everything you comment have to be negative?
Don’t let the door hit you…
Everything is not negative to me,mine was simply an opposing voice.
He must be that guy who owns the Allegro.
Bradley you are the guy that complained about people having the hood of their car open at a car show,so do not talk to me about negativity.
Blasphemy.
Someone didn’t campaign hard enough…
It all works out in the end 😀
(Which I’m happy to report now that the Hoons Choice Award was posted)
Whatever. Each of us knows who the real winner is.
Wait until tomorrow.
I’m looking forward to your post about the Jaguar.
Considering the precedent has been set, I suggest we hold the HCOTY ribbon until this is a functional and road-legal motorcycle.
Perhaps Mr. Bowman could hold it for us. Makr can have it when he and the vehicle can pick it up in person (if they can find Zach).
Said the BL production worker who had one shin longer than the other;
“How do you make A Leg Grow?”
I thought the offset pedals in the Mini were a solution to a packaging problem, not to an orthopedic challenge.
‘And it isn’t even a car. Or running. Or finished.’
I thought those were the rules for every year?
Yes, but ignoring the rules is a hallowed HCOTY tradition.
This is true
Yes, but they didn’t want to keep the Allegro out…
Remember that time guy took a golf cart and an aluminum body from under grannys porch and made that cool electric vehicle? that was hooning at its finest.
Looks like we need to change this to Hooniversal Motorized Vehicle of the Year. Either that or have separate winning categories for Car, Truck and Motorcycle.
Wait, that would imply this is a legitimate contest. Silly me, what was I thinking?
Dude, we have a hard time nominating as it is…
“…separate winning categories for Car, Truck and Motorcycle.”
In that case why did I even bother buying a one-cylinder two-stroke pogo stick?
https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7730/29263572542_efbb7640f4.jpg
The footpegs are too small and needs stronger handles.
Nice International Harvester,had an old truck like that with a plow and good gearing plowed snow like a caterpillar.
Allegedly one of the reasons these were pulled from the market was a tendency to fire out of time and break the rider’s thumbs. The handles, therefore, are strong enough.
You’re right about the footpegs, though.
You know, if Citroen built that you could bet your ass that it would offer a nice smooth ride rather than bouncing all over the place…
I understand hydropneumatic suspension is smoother but it tends to lean a lot in the turns. It’s something about the spheres.
http://www.besportier.com/archives/underwater-pogo-stick.jpg
Thank you. I am most honored. I am sorry Alpha has upset some of you. For the record it is done and running, although I wouldn’t venture to ride it far. Alpha really pales to Danny Thompson’s streamliner, and that is who should have won.
Don’t sweat it, Mark. It’s not a reflection on you or your machine, this is just mostly a four-wheel-centric website.
P. S.: Wanna be a guest on our bike podcast?
Sure. What would it entail?
I sent you a PM on ADV.