Matthew James Kelch (Matt) passed away on 21 July 2023 at his home in Thousand Oaks California. Born in 1936 Matt was a 1959 graduate of the US Naval Academy and entered active service in the US Air Force. Following Pilot Training Matt first flew the F-100 and later the F-105 fighter aircraft. During the Vietnam War he flew combat missions in the F-105 including missions over North Vietnam.

On August 10th 1967 Matt’s aircraft sustained damage from enemy ground fire during a mission over North Vietnam. Matt told me that he managed to nurse the crippled and burning jet to a safer location over the country of Laos where “out of altitude and ideas” he was forced to eject from his F-105. The ejection was successful, but his ejection seat became entangled in the parachute and as the canopy opened, the ejection seat fell free crashing down onto Matt’s crash helmet, injuring his neck and back.

Once safe on the ground in Laos he was picked up by a civilian Air America helicopter and eventually returned to his base at Korat Thailand, where despite injuries he was well enough to continue flying combat missions. Matt was to be one of the lucky ones to survive F-105 combat missions in Vietnam. During the period from 1965 to 1970 one hundred and fifty F-150 pilots were KIA/MIA and whose names are now on the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington D.C..

Upon his release from the Air Force Matt began a long career as a civilian pilot with American Airlines. I first met Matt sometime in the early 1970’s when we both were domiciled as airline pilots in Los Angeles, he with American, and I with TWA, and we both lived in Thousand Oaks California, about a hour drive west of the LAX airport.

My back door neighbor in TO was Dion DeCamp, another American pilot; and I think I first met Matt through Dion. Dion and I were both C-130 pilots in the146th Wing of California Air National Guard based at the Van Nuys airport. Beyond flying, the common interest that brought the three of us together was motorcycling.

Matt had a stable of motorcycles in his garage, but his love was a 1966 Triumph T120R Bonnyville with a stunning Arctic White fuel tank. I never thought to ask where he had bought the machine. I assumed it was from a dealer in somewhere in Texas where Matt made annual trips for recurrent and upgrade training in the Dallas American Airlines simulator facility. Another hint that the bike came from a Texas dealer was the “Astro Cycles” displayed on the left side switch plate.

From Matt I learned of the weekend gatherings at the Rock Store, famous among Southern California motorcyclists including Jay Leno and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Most weekends when he was not flying for American, Matt and his Triumph could be found among the bikes in the Rock Store parking area

I was fortunate to join Matt and son Jim on a number of motorcycle adventures in the western United States, Great Britain and New Zealand. The old Triumph remained in the garage for these extended adventures for which Matt selected one of his more modern BMW bikes, or a rental machine if in Britain or New Zealand.

One of the great things about the motorcycling trips with Matt was how comfortable he was engaging with the local people we encountered. Matt loved people. He could always find a common interest to strike up a conversation in a Pub, and he never met a dog or cat that he didn’t like; a fact that particularly endeared him to the locals we met in watering holes in Great Britain and New Zealand.

As the years wore on and the 1970’s became the 1980s, and then the 1990s, Matthew slowly became more troubled by the old injury he sustained during the F-105 ejection. Over the years Matt underwent several back/neck operations, and I noticed several times on our motorcycle trips he had bad days when he was visibly in some discomfort from neck and back pain. Regardless, Matt seldom missed a Sunday morning at the Rock Store, riding in most often on the old 66 Triumph.

The T-shirt Matt wears in the photo above reflects his son Jim commission as a USAF pilot flying the C-130. Jim would later follow his dad as a pilot with American Airlines .

In 1996 Matt completed his career with American Airlines retiring as a Captain. In the years following retirement Matt’s old injury and the effect of several back/neck operations made walking difficult. He still made it to the Rock Store most weekends, but now aided by a walker.

Matt’s son Jim was domiciled in San Francisco, but tried to arrange his American flights so that he got down to see his dad in Thousand Oaks as often as possible. Then 2021 Jim died suddenly after a brief bout with bone cancer. Jim’s sudden death was a heavy blow to Matt. His wife Margo had passed some years earlier and now with his health declining and Jim now gone, Matt was alone in the Thousand Oaks house. Fortunately, Charlie Rubino a fellow ridder and a close neighbor was aware of the situation and came up the street almost every day to check on Matt. As Matt became more dependent on the walker and then a wheelchair Charlie was at hand to take Matt to shop for groceries or for doctor appointments. No one ever had a better more loyal friend than Charlie was to Matt.

Best I recall, sometime in the middle 1990s Matt moved the old Triumph against the wall in a far corner of the garage, no longer able or willing to crank or ride the old machine. The Triumph was to languish there abandoned and uncovered to collect dust for nearly 20+ years.

Then early one morning in 2023 Charlie came up the street to find Matt on the floor unresponsive. He died sometime during the night before, alone. Those of us who knew Matt were saddened, but knew that Matt would have preferred a quiet passing at home to a long decline in intensive care.

But back to the history of the Triumph. Jim and I offered any number of times to clean and properly store the bike. The Triumph was one of two British bikes Matt had parked along the far side of the garage, but Matt refused all entreaties from Jim and me to rescue the bikes from their moldering fate. Nothing would move Matt: “No, leave them be” was all he would say.

Only after Matt’s death did I collect the Triumph from the garage, promising Jim’s wife Janet that I and Michael (my step-son who grew up with Jim and was a good friend to Matt) would undertake the task to return the bike back to life, with the goal that the machine would at some point go to a suitable museum in Matt’s and Jim’s name.

With Janet’s agreement Michael brought the bike up to my home at Lake Almanor, California where he and I had our first good opportunity to assess what 30 years of non-use had done to the bike.

Once in my garage and with some of the dust blown off the machine, we found to our relief that, other than a coating grunge on everything, the bike was in rather remarkable condition. We could find no serious damage to the bike, just fair wear and tear from the years of neglect . Of course all the rubber parts were trashed and would need to be replaced, but the bike was complete and unbent.

Next, I installed a new battery (positive ground), turned on the ignition switch and got a green light. Then I pulled the plugs and grounded one on the engine head and cranked the bike over. To my relief and delight I was rewarded with a strong spark. As awful as it looked, the bike wiring proved to be functional.

An inspection off the interior of the fuel tank was far less reassuring .

Affronted by the frightful sight of the tank interior and the faded paint on the tank exterior, I sent the tank off to Craig at Precision Motorcycle Painting in South Bend Indiana, a service I had used before to paint a Honda CB400F tank and knew Craig would do a professional restoration. I gave some thought before making this decision. Michael and I discussed the matter and decided that it was better to keep the bike as original as possible rather than undertake a frame up restoration. However, as the tank on these old Triumphs are the most visible feature, we thought fresh tank paint and proper water-slides would set the bike off.

Next we turned to the condition of some of the other painted parts on the bike. The black paint on the oil tank, switch plate and chain guard was eaten away in places by the acidity of the grunge which had collected on the uncovered bike over the years.

So, the damaged black painted parts were removed and passed to Paul Harris who kindly volunteered to repaint them.

Paul also installed new tires front and back using a Nomar changer in his shop.

Even with the Nomar, installing new tires was tough work.

In addition to painting the switch plate, oil tank and chain guard, the both mufflers were replaced and new fork covers installed.

In March 2025 Michael and Chris drove out from Oklahoma in a new truck. We had a great visit and worked together on the Triumph. For the return trip to Oklahoma Michael rented a U-Haul covered trailer and he and Chris departed with the Triumph, the Honda CB400F and boxes of bike parts stuffed in the trailer. Both bikes now reside in Michael’s spacious shop behind their home in Tuttle, Oklahoma.

Here in a well lighted heated shop, Michael will continuer the project of bringing the old bike back life.

My thanks to Paul Harris for his paint and tire work, and to Michael for being willing to allow me to hand over the restoration torch to him. So, more to follow in this epistle as Michael finds the courage to switch on the ignition key and attack the Triumph crank lever. He would be wise to pause beforehand to offer a brief prayer.

There are two truths to remember concerning the ownership of an old Triumph motorcycle:

1. Do not own an old Triumph if you don’t live on a steep hill.

2. If you do not see oil on the ground under the machine, you are out of oil.

Link to Videos of the Fuel Tank Restoration

Craig was so pleased with the job he had done restoring the fuel tank that he featured the painting process in a video on his company’s website. https://precisionmotorcyclepainting.com/1966-triumph-bonneville-gas-tank-1/