The dairy farm worker and engineer, who shifted to North Otago from Aranui in Christchurch six weeks ago, was showing off his custom-made converted 1986 Honda Prelude at the March Hare Rally at the Waimate Showgrounds yesterday.
He had so far spent about 18 months and $4000 on converting the car, with a racing engine capable of producing 216 kW, for one very good reason - a friend from Christchurch had said it could not be done.
"He said turning a front-wheel-drive car into a motorbike couldn't happen," Mr Marchant said.
"I like building things that people say cannot be done.
"If someone tells you it can't be done, you ask them why - they'll tell you the way to do it."
The bike, which Mr Marchant plans to have finished by his birthday in May, sports the Prelude's engine and shifting gears and has a shaft from a tractor.
Returning to the rally for the second time in as many years, Mr Marchant said he was enjoying the relative calm of North Otago after life in the Garden City.
The former roofer and resident of Aranui, who had lived just 200m from the badly hit suburb of Bexley, admitted to losing his nerve for heights for a time after the building he was working on moved 8cm away from his scaffolding during a severe aftershock last year.
He said the city's roads were in no state for a keen biker, and recalled how it had taken him two and a-half hours to ride the 10km from Papanui to Aranui following a major earthquake last year.
Between 2000 and 3000 people are expected for the rally's main day today, featuring a trike show in Waimate at 11am followed by various events until the motorcyclists leave tomorrow.
