Tweet
Here we go. The Japanese have never really had a "hit" in the Harley market, but have always been keen observers of American culture and know where it's headed better than we do. This metalsmith (who prefers silence over English) whipped up this ride in three days, by clipping up VL and Shovelhead parts. Check the tiny conduit wrapped over the rear fender for his taillight wiring. It's 30's bobber, but then it's not. The style evolving is 2000 versions of 30's bobbers. Unfinished-no paint-your basic iron-horse from IronWorks http://www.ironworksmag.com/ A classic example of another one of those ugly so & so V-Twin dealers. The crowning glory of this machine is the mfgr's. license plate as a product of the creativity distilled from the pressure cooker atmosphere of Huntington Beach; where they have a concrete piling pier that brunts the force of tremendous south swells from New Zealand or westerlys from Hawaii. So powerful that they push an unbroken wall of energy on both sides of the pier through the pilings like they weren't even there. Not like Virginia Beach or the Gulf coast where the piers dissipate the wave, these sand dredging monsters will feather-up and scrape the bottom of the pier moving forward like a section of earth. The continual wave makes it possible for surfers to "shoot the pier" (thread a ride between the teeth of barnacle exposed pilings) and come out the other side. And, across the double blvd. street on higher ground above the pier, are were where surf shops originated. "Greek" (the Leonardo brothers) and "Vardeman"; and "Gordie" surfboards; a few blocks down right in the middle of town on PCH, the Golden Bear (state symbol), a music club (without a liquor license because in those days nobody drank and we all used to laugh at juicers) that ran nightly shows. We would pass by there on our Honda 305's on our way to San Clemente from Long Beach and twice a week the marquee would change. I would see Big Brother & The Holding Co. or Elvin Bishop plastered up there going south and then Hoyt Axton, Sonny Terry, or The Dirt Band or Steve Martin (both were from Long Beach) or Leon Russell coming back north. And all this time you also had packs of Harley riders too and the cultures never really clashed, except in "Roger Corman" films like Wild Angels, part of which was filmed a little north of H.B. in the raw red dirt of Huntington Cliffs (also on PCH, still right across from the beach) The builder Chica represents the relentless drip of change that really only takes place in small shops or garages. Unless you knew what to look for, it would appear as a couple guys in blue jeans working on an indistinct project, and not until you picked up the L.A. newspaper one day would you realize that the guys beating on drums and guitars in an open garage were actually the beginnings of the Beach Boys. Creating a vehicular expression on the cheap we think, but if you look closely and read the license plate, then you see that he's a mfgr. and that's a considerable investment.
Now lets see if webguy will post my pix.
Now lets see if webguy will post my pix.
...
Comment