[QUOTE=TSheff;17918134]Established 1947??? Honda-Suzuki???? Didn't think Japanese bikes hit the states until the 60's. Triumph, Norton, BSA, Harley, yea but not Honda and Suzuki??[/QUO
Sorry sh Dick Bettencourt’s passion for riding, working on and racing motorcycles was the foundation for New England’s oldest and largest Honda/Suzuki dealership. The Bettencourt family and dealership also created a legacy that resulted in multiple AMA National race victories and championships.
During World War II, Dick Bettencourt worked as a toolmaker at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology radar lab. He bought his first bike, a 1942 Army Harley WLA, to commute from Avon to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Bettencourt had also made some performance parts at his dad’s machine shop for local racer Shortie Atwood. This connection introduced Bettencourt to racing on mile ovals.
Bettencourt became a traveling salesman for Butler and Smith, the U.S. importer for BMW and NSU motorcycles, and he worked on establishing dealerships. His family owned a machine shop in Brockton, Massachusetts, which Dick took over upon his father’s death. Soon after he opened an Indian dealership from that location. BSA, Matchless, Royal Enfield, Adler and Ducati machines were later added, and in 1956 Bettencourt’s was considered a high volume dealership selling 30 bikes that year.
Bettencourt continued racing, competing at historic venues such as the Daytona Beach, Florida beach course, and at Laconia, New Hampshire. The 1950s saw the introduction of purpose-built “Scrambles” courses, and in 1957 Bob Hicks, Dick Bettencourt, Les Beach and others formed the New England Sports Committee (NESC), which organized the New England Scrambles Championship system. Bettencourt went on to win the 1958 New England 250cc Scrambles Championship, and became the NESC President in 1961. Bettencourt had the best race weekend of his career at an annual U.S. vs. Canada scrambles competition, where he won every open class event at the Canadian round aboard his 360cc CZ Twin Pipe.
That same year, the Bettencourt dealership added Bultaco and CZ lines, and became the 86th Honda dealership in the U.S. and the 74th Suzuki dealership. In 1965 Bettencourt’s dealership moved to its present location in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts. By 1970 Bettencourt’s carried the Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki, CZ, Penton, Bultaco, Husqvarna, and Montesa lines.
In 1970 Ken Maely (also an AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame member) invited Bettencourt to trail ride in Baja over the Christmas vacation. This became an annual event, and Bettencourt often brought his children and customers to the ride.
In 1973 Bettencourt’s had become a Can-Am dealership, and was one of the first to carry the American-made Yankee 500Z. Bettencourt made a point of organizing Thursday morning trail rides for any customers that were interested in joining him.
In 1975 Bettencourt rode an XL250 on Bill Record’s Afro-trek ride across Africa. Jerry Smith’s book, Into the Heart of Africa, details this adventure. Bettencourt and other trail-riding customers also rode the Roof of the World tour across India and Nepal’s Himalayan Mountains.
Bettencourt and his wife Elaine raised four children (John, David, Mark and Carol) while operating the family business, and all of the children raced at one time or another. David won multiple titles and awards, including the 1973 Associated Racers of New England 125cc Expert MX Championship, the 1975 NESC Sportsman of the Year Award, the 1981 New England Flat Track Association 250 Pro Championship and the Open Pro Championship. Carol raced a Honda MR175 in the women’s class.
John won the 1968 NESC 125cc Expert Championship aboard a Bultaco, and later became a professional road racer. He won the 1978 AMA Superbike National race at Loudon, New Hampshire aboard a Suzuki GS750, and the 1985 race at Lexington, Ohio on a Honda VF750. Sadly, John perished in an automobile accident in 1987.
In 1979, Bettencourt sponsored motocross racer JoJo Keller, who won the New England Motocross Championship on a Honda CR125. Keller led several laps of the 1981 World Motocross Championship round at New Berlin, New York on his Bettencourt’s Suzuki RM250.
When Fields Park in Brockton banned motorcycles, Dick Bettencourt encouraged long-time customer Jim Slade and others to get the AMA involved. The AMA took the parks commission to court and lost. The AMA appealed and lost again. Many in the local motorcycle community were involved in fundraising to fight this ban. John Bettencourt designed a “Wheels for Fields” T-shirt as part of this fundraising. The AMA eventually appealed to the highest court in Massachusetts and won. The AMA then used this high court precedent to overturn motorcycle bans in other states.
Dick Bettencourt died in 1992, but his work continues through sons David and Mark who currently operate the Bettencourt’s dealership. Today Bettencourt’s is a proud sponsor of New England native and multi-time AMA Grand National Champion Kenny Coolbeth.
In 1990 Dick Bettencourt gave a rare 1973 Yankee 500Z as a gift to journalist and producer Dick Lague. Lague displayed the bike in his office for years, and in 2008 he entered the Yankee in the Legend of the Motorcycle International Concours at the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay, Calif., where it was accepted. “Dick would have been very proud to see the Yankee 500Z on that lawn in front of the Ritz Carleton,” said Lague.
Dick Bettencourt was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum in 2000.
ould have stated that the dealer didn't open his doors in 1947 selling Honda's. Here's the history of the guy, both Monty and Dicky B were quite the charactors.
Established 1947??? Honda-Suzuki???? Didn't think Japanese bikes hit the states until the 60's. Triumph, Norton, BSA, Harley, yea but not Honda and Suzuki??[/QUO
ould have stated that the dealer didn't open his doors in 1947 selling Honda's. Here's the history of the guy, both Monty and Dicky B were quite the charactors.
Cool. Yea there are several dealerships that have gone through brands to survive.
My '76 FXE was $3,200 OTD
My '79 Low Rider was $5,700 OTD
My '89 FXRS was $10,200 OTD My '92 FXRT was just under $13,000 OTD
In 1976 a brand new Honda 750 was about $1,400 and that was what everyone seemed to buy when they decided that they couldn't afford a Harley.
I have no idea what a new Goldwing was in those days because I never had any interest in any other motorcycle than a Harley.....I still don't.
They were considered pretty expensive by most people at the time
Out here was a year waiting list and bidding wars when a bike did come in. I wanted a RT around that time, $18,000 and they didn't blink telling you that. Bikes never sat longer than it took someone to qualify for financing it was so crazy around these parts.
Last edited by TwiZted Biker; 12-27-2018 at 10:58 PM.
I figure I could have about 4 pounds of Gold instead of the eGlide and the Pan. But then I would have to learn the starting sequence of the Gold, and install a nice stereo system on it.
Out here was a year waiting list and bidding wars when a bike did come in. I wanted a RT around that time, $18,000 and they didn't blink telling you that. Bikes never sat longer than it took someone to qualify for financing it was so crazy around these parts.
'91 I was standing in San Mateo HD trying to get someone to take my money for a new Fat Boy.... they just ignored me. I left & drove up to Dudley Perkins (they were on Page St. in SF then). I still remember the salesman's name.... Steve Zarwill. Super friendly guy, told me to sit on anything I wanted & let him know if I had any questions. I fixated on a two tone red Softail Custom.... was about $12k. It was the last '91 on the floor & they were waiting for the 92's to come in.... Steve knocked $500 off & we had a deal.
Since the closing of that store I've had zero reason to go back into the city again.
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NO, they DON'T all do that!
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'91 I was standing in San Mateo HD trying to get someone to take my money for a new Fat Boy.... they just ignored me. I left & drove up to Dudley Perkins (they were on Page St. in SF then). I still remember the salesman's name.... Steve Zarwill. Super friendly guy, told me to sit on anything I wanted & let him know if I had any questions. I fixated on a two tone red Softail Custom.... was about $12k. It was the last '91 on the floor & they were waiting for the 92's to come in.... Steve knocked $500 off & we had a deal.
Since the closing of that store I've had zero reason to go back into the city again.
__________________________________________________ ____ For ROCKOUT information & purchasing please click HERE For all Twin Cams and Evo Big Twins & Sportsters
It was still Fremont Harley back then and Bob Dron up in Oakland, never went to San Mateo.
Out here was a year waiting list and bidding wars when a bike did come in. I wanted a RT around that time, $18,000 and they didn't blink telling you that. Bikes never sat longer than it took someone to qualify for financing it was so crazy around these parts.
Around here in the 70,s and 80,s you would go to the dealer on Jan 1st or 2nd and put your name on a list hoping to get called when the bikes arrived[theyd ask for a !00 deposit] The 2 closest dealers to me were small shops [1 doesn't,t exist now] and the dealer/shop I use is still a small dealership below is the shop that closed
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Photo of Aldo's Harley-Davidson - Bernardston, MA, United States by Sandy D. ... Recommended Reviews for Aldo's Harley-Davidson. ... Everything went smooth at Aldos Harley Davidson in Bernardston MA when we bought our CVO Limited Edition (one of approximately 3600 built) Harley-Davidson ...
Wilmington Delaware, 1970s-80s, Fuzzy's Harley Davidson. In a real shitty part of town, most of the guys there were real hard asses, water leaked from the ceiling when it rained, oil all over the floor, maybe a few t-shirts for sale. Bought my first new bike there in '89. That was a real HD dealership. Loved that place.
I remember going into Chris Draayer HD in downtown Salt Lake City when I was a teenager. Creaky, oil-stained wooden floors. A few clothing items and a big parts department. You knew you were in a Harley-Davidson shop and not Macy's.
They were smaller, less bikes, less glamor and smelled great with the exhaust, gas and oil odors flowing through the building.
I bought my first HD from one, Bill Chaney HD in Pleasant Hill Ca.
This was his shop on Monument Blvd in Concord before he moved to Pleasant hill.
This post really took me back. I remember his shop and when he moved he literally gave away Panhead parts so that he wouldn’t have to move them.
12-27-2018 | 09:32 PM
Dick Bettencourt’s passion for riding, working on and racing motorcycles was the foundation for New England’s oldest and largest Honda/Suzuki dealership. The Bettencourt family and dealership also created a legacy that resulted in multiple AMA National race victories and championships.
