Man restores his ‘rideable wreck’ after scary moment with his son

Noel Wills got his first motorbike at the age of 20 and has been a fan of riding them for years, but this vintage machine wasn’t like any he’d been on before.

When the art teacher initially took his “rideable wreck” home in 1968, he remained optimistic but it was clear that this classic bike needed a lot of work.

“There was a huge bang when it backfired,” he said.

“I went through the glass kitchen door and my three-year-old son, who was standing on the other side of the door, got showered in glass.”

Mr Wills’ son was luckily ok and he decided to completely restore the retro ride, hoping to get it back to its former glory.

“I’ll keep riding it for as long as I can,” the now 77-year-old told Forever Bikes*.

“Why not? It takes me back to my youth, and it’s just a thrill to ride, and the sound of it…bom, bom, bom, bom.”

It’s not shocking that the South London native is a little sentimental about his bikes, with his first motorbike breaking down on him while he was riding up a hill and his previous favourite being stolen in the past.

After some Frankenstein levels of restoration, a stint with a sidecar for his wife, Dianne, and learning how to ride the unique motorcycle, Mr Wills has had the Panther for more than five decades.

“If you were on a Panther and it went bang, which they often did, you probably just threw it in a hedge and forgot about it,” he added.

“Probably, at some point, someone fished it out and thought ‘I’ll do something with that’ – and so on.”

He continues to enjoy riding on the once unreliable motorbike, and doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. He loves riding his “barely trained horse” bike.

He joked: “It represents the story of my life – we’re both deteriorating slowly!”