HALM INTER-AM 360 CZ Found!

Edison Dye, an aeronautical engineer by trade organized motorcycle tours in Europe in the early 1960s. While in his travels through Sweden he saw the Husqvarna motorcycle and immediately fell in love with it. After discussing his desire to be the US distributor for Husqvarna, Dye and the factory agreed he would begin importing the brand to the US. Always a forward thinker, Dye thought he would show off the new bike in motocross races. He hired Torsten Hallman, the reigning 250cc world champion in 1966 to race the Husky in America. Hallman easily scored many victories on the Husky. In order to boost sales, Dye in 1967 decided to organize his own series of motocross races in the US, and called it the Inter-America, better known today as the Inter-Am. Turning the heat up a little more, Dye imported more European riders to compete against Hallman and American scrambles riders in the motocross arena. This traveling circus show of motocross racers created a large following of new fans that helped launch a new popularity across the nation. The AMA at this time wasn't sanctioning international events. An organization called, Motorcycle International Clubs of the United States (MICUS) represented the US in the Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Dye’s new Inter-Am series was then sanctioned by MICUS.

- click photos for larger view -

Photo courtesy, Rex Staten collection, 2007

In 1970 the AMA joined the FIM and moved into International competition with they’re new Trans-AMA motocross series competing against Dye’s Inter-Am series. This led to the dissolving of Dye’s Inter-Am in 1971 though he continued to promote races within the Trans-Am series until 1974.

What you see here is the newly discovered original 1970 CZ360cc ridden by Miroslav Halm in Edison Dye’s Inter-Am series! The discovery was by pure chance through some email's of a few members at the OLD S’CooL CZ-JAWA and CZ Yellowtanker Internet groups on Yahoo when active. The owner of the CZ posted some photos of his bike on both groups to showcase his personal collection. These CZ groups are dedicated to the preservation of the Czech brand from full restoration to race-ready machinery, and they know how to spot anything unique in the CZ world.

      

It was noticed that the bike looked original in the uncommon school bus yellow paint job. This alerted one of the members to look further into the bikes originality. The owner of the bike, Mr. Steve Canady was contacted, and a few key technical questions were asked that confirmed this was an original bike bought in 1971. Then Mr. Jim Musich, another group member who worked for a CZ dealer in Santa Cruz during the ‘70s, submitted an AMERICAN JAWA memo from his personal collection dated May 1971 listing a few motorcycles for sale to the public. It listed four Inter-Am works bikes for sale as “demonstrator models”, one being the bike you now see.

AMERICAN JAWA Newsletter confirming originality of the HALM CZ

981.0 series CZ engines are identified as being produced in 1970, further making this bike a unique piece. Primarily because it’s mounted into an earlier 969 series frame as newer 981 series frames weren’t yet available.

         

The photo above is the original pieces still in Steve’s possession. Keeping them was a very wise decision! The paint on the chassis and body parts is unmolested! The bike currently has a pair of KONI rear shocks, a later model aluminum front rim. An interesting modification still exists on the bike – 2 sets of foot peg mounts (see below). Mr. Canady has kept the bike in complete original condition with a few modifications to his preference. Items such as the pipe was changed out as the original open chamber “low-pipe” got dented up but is still in his possession. The Jikov carburetor was also changed out to a Mikuni unit as was the common practice of the day. At some time in the future Steve plans on reinstalling all the original pieces including the open-chamber pipe as well as a Twinpipe model kick lever to clear the pipe when starting it up.

The day Mr. Canady purchased the Halm CZ:

The story on how I obtained Miroslav Halm’s 360 CZ started back in November 1971. I owned a 1970 DT-1 Yamaha which I purchased in the crate from Ted Evens Motorcycles. At that time most of my friends owned Maico’s, Sachs, Greeves, AJS’s. Husky’s and CZ’s which were starting to become very popular. Well the DT-1 just didn't cut it. So I started looking around and I found an ad in the Los Angeles Times for a 1970 CZ360cc for sale. At first I thought too much bike, but then why not check it out anyway, you never know right? I called the number and the guy on the phone had an accent (found out that he was Czechoslovakian). He told me I could look at the bike at his home. So I called my friend who owned a 250 CZ and asked him to come with me to check out this bike.I was 16 at the time so what did I know! When I met the guy he introduced himself as Frank Cech. Frank was about a couple years older then I. So I asked him why he was selling the bike. He told me he didn't want to sell it, but he had too. My dad wont let me ride it (remember back in 1971, under 21 you were a minor). Then I met his dad, a brawny guy and he spoke with a deep Czech accent “My son no ride this, he going to kill himself.” Now that got my attention and, all the more I wanted to see this killing machine. Frank said he bought the bike a month earlier and never got to ride it.

Frank took us back to there garage. When I saw the bike I was amazed. It looked awesome and I had never seen a yellow tanker that looked like this. I asked Frank “where did you find this?” Frank said he worked for AMERICAN JAWA in the parts department and that the factory team left some of these bikes with us after the Inter -Am races. Now I’m thinking holy cow, I’ve got to have this! Forgetting all about the size of the motor, I thought I want this bike!

Frank also showed me a picture from Modern Cycle magazine, dated January 1971, with a picture of Miroslav Halm in midair on this bike. He told me he bought this bike because Halm was his favorite rider. He also mentioned the riders names of the other bikes of which one name I knew as DeCoster, and that bike sold first. I believed Frank and I thought this was a unique piece. I was trying to keep my cool by not showing how much I wanted this CZ. But the old man knew, he wasn’t budging on the price and Frank looked like he was loosing his best friend. So I said I’ll take it.Now 36 years later and with some amazing chain of events that confirm Frank’s story, I’m able to say the story was true! This was Halm’s Inter-Am ride back then.

Steve Canady August 28, 2007

Above we see this actual #5 CZ being piloted by Miroslav Halm in an Inter-Am race at Saddleback Park, California.
He just passed Sylvain Geboers on the #3 Suzuki. Thats Bengt Aberg about to endo!

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Scan of an original 1 moto paycheck to HALM signed by EDISON DYE!

One begs to wonder,

“Where are the other 3 Inter-Am bikes listed in THE MEMO”?

We hope you have enjoyed this piece of American Motocross history. The members of the OLD S’CooL CZ-JAWA and CZ Yellowtanker forums wish to thank Steve Canady and all that contributed to the discovery of this motorcycle.

DISCLAIMER: While we endeavor to ensure that the information in this article is correct, we do not warrant its completeness or total accuracy. All donated items are known to be original.