50 | JUNE 2026
SPECIAL SECTION
The Stinkin’ Linkin( top) was Nesbitt’ s way to overcome the loss of his home and studio after Katrina. The Magnolia Special( below left) followed a couple years later.
you know exactly why you’ re on planet Earth and you’ re able to fulfill that mission, it’ s the most blissful sensation you can imagine. But when you know why you’ re on planet Earth and you’ re unable
to fulfill that mission, it’ s abject misery. The reason why I exist is to build seriesproduction motorcycles in New Orleans.”
Remaining in New Orleans meant continuing to build in a place that resisted easy answers. It meant embracing constraints rather than escaping them. And it meant doubling down on independence.
During this time he built a few cars, including the Stinkin’ Linkin, a flooded 1998 Lincoln Mark 8 build which went on to compete for a land speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Next was the Magnolia Special, a complete ground- up custom automobile that ran on natural gas. Nesbitt raced it from coast to coast and held the record for alternative energy vehicles( with a time of 89 hours) for two years.
In 2012, Nesbitt unveiled the Legacy, a prototype motorcycle with an elaborate perimeter chassis of his own design built around a Motus V- 4. Three years later, motorjournalist and former racer Alan Cathcart rode the Legacy at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the U. K.
For his next project, Nesbitt teamed up again with Matt Chambers. In 2017, Chambers rebranded his company as Curtiss Motorcycles and sold Confederate to Ernest Lee, who moved operations to Utah. Nesbitt designed the Curtiss One, a futuristic all- electric motorcycle with exposed architecture and a price tag around $ 100,000.
The Bienville Legacy went on to compete in the Goodwood Festival of Speed hillclimb event, piloted by Alan Cathcart. Only three prototypes of this design were ever built.