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What Is Liberty Vintage?


Adam Cramer, 47, is not a Harley guy. He’s not a café racer guy either. He is, however, an original British bikes kind of guy, namely Triumphs and Nortons. His acute obsession has followed him from garage to garage until he landed at Liberty Vintage about 10 years ago. Since then Liberty Vintage has become a mecca for specialty vintage bikes, cars and a 1967 Brantley B2B helicopter, while serving as “the spot” for the craziest First Friday parties in Fishtown.

“I just followed the motorcycles. I never thought of it one single bit as a career path. I never thought of a career path,” Cramer, owner of Liberty Vintage, said with a toothy grin.

adam

Throughout his life, as needed, Cramer took up mechanic jobs here and there. He always had or rented a “crappy” garage and would buy bikes for $50 or $100 a pop then flip them for $300. His latest garage on Sepviva Street was established when the area was, as Cramer called it, a “white ghetto.” He bought it with a partner, who has long since exited the business, when the getting was cheap.

“I wouldn’t get a building just ‘cause I just wanted to be a real estate guy or ‘hey, liability to get some money.’ It was a need to house my motorcycles. If I didn’t have a motorcycle I probably would have never met my wife or have any of the friends I have,” Cramer said.

In total, 60 out of the approximate 150 bikes (he doesn’t keep count) in Liberty Vintage are Cramer’s personal stock. This count is low for Cramer, who at one point had more than 300. Through his Youtube videos and a brief “Philly Throttle” stint on the Discovery Channel two years ago, customers have traveled from Texas, Chicago and “a lot of Florida,” according to Cramer, to come by and take a look.

“I walk into here everyday like, ‘I can’t believe this is my place!’ To other people, whether they are into cars or motorcycles, it’s still extremely interesting. It doesn’t diminish at all to me,” Cramer said.

He continued. “I really think I could actually turn the popularity of these First Friday events here into something.”

helicopter and shop

If there was a simple way to describe the First Friday parties it would be: music, motorcycle jumps in the street and a fire breather. It’s not really a party unless Cramer hops on the back of a dirt bike and lines up a ramp on Fletcher street and jumps it, often through a ball of fire.

“No one has wiped out yet, that is the best part,” Cramer joked.

Reckless Dodgers, a local rock band, was invited to play Liberty Vintage for a First Friday show. “It was the beginning of December and in the middle of a rain storm,” Andrew “Stripes” Winter, the band’s frontman, said. “Despite that cold wet mess, we all had a great time. There’s usually beer and food provided, who doesn’t like that?!”

Having a shop is and has always been about freedom according to Cramer.

“The change here is coming hard and fast. I want to develop this building. We aren’t going to have death metal, maybe we will have blues… jazz. We might trash the park out here, but at the end of the night everyone would clean it up.”

wall of bikes 1

Cramer exposed his master plan for the space with ease. It’s a plan in action, whether the neighborhood is totally ready or not. He wants to rent out a large portion of the space to be used as a cafe or a bar or museum or all of the above. He even dreams of having a motorcycle museum pop up during the Trenton Avenue Arts Fest. Currently, he is cleaning out the office add-on and tearing down the walls on the second floor. If he’s able to secure them, Cramer also has plans for the two lots behind Liberty Vintage on Frankford Ave.

Liberty Vintage attracts like-minded people, not just enthusiasts or First Friday party goers. The shop is always open to the curious passerby. In fact, Adam Cramer encourages it because he knows you’ve never seen a shop quite like it.

“I just want the building to pay me back because I’m tired and I want to go ride my motorcycle across country with my kid and my wife because I have a driver’s licence for the first time in 27 years,” Cramer said with an inexhaustible lust for the open road.

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