Todd's Night Train

A while back, we ran a story on what an original Night Train looked like when it came out (pictured below),

what this here editor's 1971 Night Train currently looks like (pictured below),

and what a new 2007 Night Train owned by fellow Austinite Todd Mc Neill looks like (pictured below - picture taken by Ms. Francesca).

I got to talking with Todd about his bike and how he came to buying the Night Train and into the world of motorcycles. What Todd had to say was very impressive and I really could not say it better. So I asked him if he could submit his comments for all to read and here they are:

My name is Todd Mc Neill; I am 20 yrs old and have resided in Austin TX for the past year and a half. I lived in Dallas/ Fort Worth area my whole life.

I have a ’07 Night Train that I bought in April of ’07. I moved to Austin for school and to experience life in a new city. With a strong automotive upbringing I started working in the garage with my dad. Ever since I could hold a wrench my father and I worked on slick street rods and badass hot rods. I’ve been on motorcycles since the age of three.

My first was a 50 cc Indian with training wheels. When I first got the bike, I knew that I wanted to change things about it. I didn’t like all the stock features and wanted to make it my own. I wanted it to look long, lean and dark. With the project still coming along it’s well on its way to being sinister.

I feel that my life style fits my personality. I consider myself to follow true rock-a-billy fashion. A person, who at 20 basically gets loud, raises hell, and plays by their own rules. I wear my hair in a Pompadour, roll up my pant legs for the love of the old school from inspirations of Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and James Dean . Working on and riding the bike brings out my individualism and creativity that motorcycles have always brought me.

Well there you have it. Todd's thoughts on why he born into the world of wrenching, badass hot rods, and motorcycles. I must say that Todd has one nice Night Train. How about one more picture (taken by Ms. Francesca)!

Note: Texas Iron would like to apologize to Todd, our members, and to the public. TIMM had taken some studio pictures of Todd's bike but previous photographers would not allow us to use them - eventhough the pictures were taken under auspices of TIMM. However, we felt that we owed it to Todd to recreate the story using what photos we had. Thank you Todd. Frank T., Editor-in-Chief