Well-laid plans were even more vital then than now because everything was fabricated in-house. We all know there weren't any catalogs of CNC-machined goo-gaws to pick and choose from in those days. Bob was part of a group of three or four serious enthusiasts who each had a specialty when it came to creating cars and motorcycles. "My guys weren't bike guys. We just had the ability to make stuff well. I weld and make sheet metal tubing. It really just takes three or four people with a little vision. That was us," Bob said. Each of them pitched in not only with ideas (and beer) but the skill necessary to execute them.
After he won the next year, though, that wasn't the end of it. In 1976 he made a similar one for the soul legend Isaac Hayes. According to Bob: "That one was way trick. It won the Roadster show for four straight years. It had dual turbos, dual Weber carbs, engraved everything, and remote control." Yep, the year before Star Wars came out, Bob Cecchini rigged a scoot with remote control lighting and starter. He continued: "I got guys on the floor looking at it. I'd hit the remote to make the lights go and they'd come in close thinking there was a short or something. Then I'd hit the remote again to start the motor and scare the shit out of them. It was too far out for the time." The frame and body on that machine were molded together much like you'd see with a car and the motor was part of the mounting just like you'd find on a Vincent. Bob would get on it and ride all over the place around the show. At one point he stopped in at a restaurant with it and went in to eat and bought himself a run-in with the po-po for his efforts: "I'm eating when a cop comes in and tells me, 'Get that chopper off the street. Cars are stopping to look and it's blocking traffic.'"
At the height of its popularity Hayes' chopper won its ISA points division. That meant a trip to Vegas for the grand national championship where it took Second to all the cars. One cager got pretty pissed about that too. He got right up in Bob's face and informed him that anybody could build a bike. Bob countered, "Oh yeah? Well anybody can build a car." Next season found Bob running around with a fully engraved '57 Chevy named California Nugget that won the whole thing.
Through all this success, though, Bob never opened a professional shop. "That's not my thing. It was always a side thing for me. Just for fun. I was in a rock band and an electrician too. Arlen Ness asked me the same thing and I said, 'Nah, that's your deal. I don't want to do that stuff.' Arlen's always been smart about money and marketing and a good guy, too."
Bob kept busy with other motorcycle projects in the '80s and '90s too but according to him, the shows got too crazy. He made a Softail with stretched tanks and a lot of FXRs, finally stopping eight-10 years ago. "Now you can buy and build anything. Back then, there weren't even mag wheels for motorcycles. Arlen and I suggested it to American Rims and they said, 'No one ever puts mags on bikes.' So Arlen did it. Now everybody's got mags."