AMERICAN MOTORCYCLIST July 2019

Honda Heaven In Tacoma

Brown Maloney Has Been Collecting Since The ’80s

By Peter terHorst

There is a remarkable motorcycle collection on display at America’s Car Museum in Tacoma, Wash.

The stunning, 165,000-square-foot museum opened its doors in 2012 to showcase the privately owned automobile collection of Harold and Nancy LeMay. The assemblage of Honda motorcycles owned by AMA member Brown M. Maloney is the museum’s first motorcycle exhibit.

Designated an ACM Master Collector, Maloney, 62, is a lifelong enthusiast who lives in Sequim, Wash., on the Olympic Peninsula, where he owns and operates three radio stations. He has been collecting Hondas since his late 30s and the quality of his machines is impeccable.

Without exception, you just get them out, put a little oil in the cylinders, a battery in them, crank them by hand a few times and they just start right up.

American Motorcyclist interviewed Maloney at the ACM exhibit to learn more about the man (see sidebar) and the incredible Hondas that are on public display for the first time.

The 1962 CR93 was a limited-production racer that produced nearly 20 horsepower and redlined over 13,000 rpm with a top speed of 100 mph. The 125cc DOHC air-cooled two-cylinder is a work of art and featured a 360-degree crankshaft and a five-speed gearbox. A double leading shoe front drum brake provided stopping power. A very rare roadgoing version of the CR93 is also in display. “By any measure, these are the rarest bikes here,” Maloney said. “The CR93 race bike with its open pipes is the loudest bike I’ve ever heard.”

Sit back and soak in the gorgeous details of these machines in the following photographs. Better yet, ride (or fly) to Tacoma to see them for yourself. The exhibit closes after Labor Day Weekend.

AM: Why is the collection a single marque?

BMM: I think it was my sense of understanding the history [of Honda] and my comfort level was really high. Without exception, you just get them out, put a little oil in the cylinders, a battery in them, crank them by hand a few times and they just start right up.

AM: With literally millions of used Hondas in the marketplace, how did you select bikes for purchase?

BMM: It was the consistency I wanted, I wanted them to be just the top 1 and 2 percenters. And just about every bike here was bought before the internet, when you called people up and talked to them. You’d have a conversation, and you were buying the story and the person, as well.

One of the things that was also very important, I would ask them if the bike had the original tires. That gave credibility that it was a 500- or 1,000-mile original bike, and also quite likely, it just hadn’t been fitted with anything afterward.

AM: Honda made so many models over the years. What bikes did you look for?

BMM: I have a high watermark with what I collected. I just didn’t want to collect anything, just to say “OK, I filled that slot.” This is what makes all these bikes reasonably scarce, because everything in here is the top, the best of the best, or as near as. If it was restored, it had to be spot on.

AM: Who has been visiting the exhibit?

BMM: A lot of people are riding Harleys now, but so many people started on small bikes, because that’s where they got their legs, their comfort zone, if you will.

That’s where they got their confidence and, whether you run a backhoe or you ride a motorcycle, confidence brings experience and maturity.

AM: What are your favorite bikes?

BMM: I pretty much ride off road. But when I ride on road, I prefer a scrambler. I just love the high pipes.

Of the street [only] bikes, personally, I like the 350 four. I can throw my legs around it. The seat height is just a little bit lower.

It’s a typical four cylinder that just loves to rev. Keep me at seven [thousand rpm] as long as you want, but if you want to go nine, it doesn’t matter!”

Peter terHorst is an AMA Charter Life Member from Port Townsend, Wash.

About the collector
Brown M. Maloney’s motorcycle story starts off like many: His first two-wheeled adventure was on a Briggs and Stratton minibike.
“Then, of course, Honda came out with the mini trail and my dad bought one,” Maloney said.
“You could start it with your foot, like the big boys, and it had three gears even though it was an automatic. It just didn’t break and it started every time.”
And so began Maloney’s lifelong passion for Hondas.
“When I was in my early 30s, I bought a couple of Hondas, actually from my own newspaper [classifieds],” he said. “And when I was in my late 30s, I had a chance to buy an existing collection of about 14 or 15 top notch bikes. So, I came into the hobby with a pretty good understanding of bikes and what was in the different eras.”