Sonny Angel

[EldoMike]

Previous post was talking about his 2 into 1 intake....here is mine...





I also picked up this original Moto Guzzi franchise certificate from 1972...

[aschem]

That certificate is a way cool. Back in the early 80s, I rented my first apartment in National City. It was a few blocks away from his shop at 18th and K Ave. I would go by and check out all the cool bikes that I could not afford.

[Cal3Me]

I own Sonny's red quota before he retired ,,,,,,,,,

[PhilB]

This pic was taken in 2009, with Sonny delivering the yellow 1995 M900 that was a Christmas gift to my (then) wife.
Behind them is the red 1993 M900 I bought from him new in 1993.

PhilB

[normzone]

Circa nineteen eighties I showed up one morning before they were open - they offered me a cup of coffee and let me help move the shop bikes out to the patio in front - I felt so honored ...

[Yeahoo Whoyah]

Garage wall art reminds me of Sonny and my time spent in Sunny Sandy Eggo.

[PhilB]

Another fun memory is that Sonny Angel officiated at our wedding.  Neither she nor I are religious, so we didn't have a minister.  My sister and her husband had gotten a rent-a-minister, but it was impersonal and stilted.  We wanted instead to get someone we knew and liked and respected, so we asked Sonny.  He said "Well, I've never done that before.  Sure!".  It was a delightful event.

An amusing bit: we had written our own vows, and there was a sentence in there that said "Marriage is an agreement between two people."  Sonny misread it slightly, and said "Marriage is an argument between two people."  I whispered "agreement".  He said "Well, it's that, too".  This was in 2006, so his wife Chrissy was still with us, and present. We all had a good laugh about that.

PhilB

[Tusayan]

Great story.  I can hear him saying that, and see the smile.  I miss Sonny a great deal.

My first trip to Mandello in 1989 was as a direct result of hearing Sonny's story about his visit in the very early 50s.  He apparently saw a four pot cylinder head on a bench and they wouldn't tell him anything - it was for the shaft drive inline four GP bike that had yet to be publicly shown.  Sonny then became very interested in four cylinder bikes, leading him through the Imp Norton projects discussed in another WG thread...  right up until Ducati introduced the GT L-twin and (according to him) he realized that was a better overall concept, and better than Honda's mass market four released at about the same time.

Anybody know what happened to Griff (John Griffiths)?  Among other things he and Sonny worked at Vincent together.  He was about the same age.