RIDE-CT.com

By BUD WILKINSON

(Posted May 1, 2010)

He loves antique Harley-Davidsons and has spent decades painstakingly bringing five of them back to life. He owns two Knuckleheads, a Panhead, a Flathead and even a Model V from 1930. “I tell people there is not a day that goes by in my life that I don’t do something associated with these motorcycles,” said…

Here’s the hitch: He asked that his name and where he lives not be revealed, and admits that he may be a bit paranoid. The bikes were each chained and padlocked inside his garage when I arrived at his hilltop home last Saturday morning, but that’s certainly understandable considering his investment of time and money as well as their value as vintage machines.

While unlocking four of them and moving them into the backyard of his home for a private showing for RIDE-CT, he did allow a few personal details to come out. He has been riding since he was 19 and is now 51. He’s a 1976 graduate of Holy Cross High School and is a toolmaker by trade. His first bike was a 1977 Harley Sportster. He’s also a meticulous mechanic when it comes to his Harleys.

His first “collectible” was the black and white 80-cubic-inch Flathead, a 1939 ULH with sidecar that he bought in 1982 from a co-worker at the job he then held. “He lived in Watertown (and) had the motorcycle in the pantry of his house,” he said, recalling that almost as an afterthought the co-worker told him about the sidecar that was out back. The frame was buried beneath two cords of wood and the tub had a hedge growing out of it. “We proceeded to pick the wood apart. We took the hedge down.”

His next project, four years later and from scratch, was the red 61-cubic-inch Knucklehead, a 1941 EL. What prompted its construction were the excess parts that he’d acquired when rebuilding the Flathead. He bought a 1941 motor and frame and went to work. It took two years and countless hours to assemble. “I still work on it. It really never ends. They’re a never-ending project,” he said, referring to all five of the bikes.

The third antique in his growing collection was the 74-cubic-inch 1930 V. It was found on Staten Island and he has a photograph of the rusty carcass of the motorcycle that he paid $1,700 to acquire in 1989. “That motorcycle was actually in a fire. It was burnt pretty good,” he said. It now has a shiny olive green paint job with red trim. 

Up next was the black 74-cubic-inch Knucklehead, the 1947 FL, which he built from scratch beginning in 1991.

His last acquisition was the blue and white, 74-cubic-inch Panhead, a 1958 FL, which entered his garage in either 2001 or 2002. It was purchased from a man in Butler, Pa.

Each bike was acquired or created for a specific reason. The 1930 V marks the first year the model was made. The 1947 FL signifies the last year of the Knucklehead. The 1958 FL is because that was the first year the Panhead used a shock absorber, and it was also the year of his birth. The 41 EL was a transition model that impressed him.

(For the unenlightened, the designations of Flathead, Knucklehead, Panhead and, lest we forget, Shovelhead, refer to the shape and appearance of the various engines’ valve-rocker covers. Harley made the Panhead engine between 1948 and 1965. It was preceded by the Knucklehead and followed by the Shovelhead.)  

What got him started rebuilding old Harleys all those years ago was a change in job status. The company where he worked building machine fixtures closed down, and he needed something to do with his hands. “This kind of fills a void in my life,” he said. “My wife says I should have been born 30 or 40 years ago.”

Finding old parts is easier these days thanks to eBay. “Prior to eBay it was very difficult,” he said, especially for those that were only used for one model year. “The red one has a lot of one-year-only parts on it.” But they’re also more expensive, with sellers asking “crazy money” for their items.

Occasionally, he gets lucky. He found a model-specific seat for the 1939 ULH at a swap meet at the Watertown Drive-In, and suspects it may have actually been on his bike originally.

He is a stickler for accuracy, though. “There are no major parts on these bikes that are reproductions. They are all original parts,” he said. And he knows his stuff. He noted the differences in the horns on the different bikes and how the chain oilers are different. “The thing that makes me happy is making them correct. I want them all to have correct parts; be the way they’re supposed to be.”

Of the five bikes, three are registered, and they were ridden a total of 300 to350 miles last year. He has no interest in selling them. “I have two sons. They’ll end up getting them,” he said.

That does present a problem. “I have two sons and I have five motorcycles. They can’t be divided equally between the two,” he said. Consequently, he’s looking to rebuild a sixth Harley, specifically a 1965 Panhead, an FLH, “and then that will be it.”