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image_51132.jpg LR Cole & Company, Iowa city, Memorial Day Races weekend 1915. McGiness & Novotny, future owners next to 2 bikes on right. I knew Lee Novotny who inherited the business from his father. It was a Schwinn & HD dealership when Lee owned it. If you go back to posrt 4971, thise are photos of mine that were bought in Iowa City by a photo collector. I think they are inside shots of this dealership in 1911.
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Last edited by duffeycycles; 01-19-2026, 10:50 AM. -
Across the streeet from L.R. Cole & company on Iowa Avenue in Iowa City. Badger, pretty sure it was 1918 that Novotny became partner with McGuinnis. Originally Cole was Indian, picked up Excelsior, Novotny bought the HD dealership.
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Johnny Powers HD ads. I didn't know he worked at Novotny's. Novotny's quit selling Harleys in 1964 when Lee & his buddy got tangled up in a wreck & his buddy died.Great Powers Cycle story, when he built a new shop he used ridgid frames for the rebar in the concrete behind the shop. There were a lot of John Powers in Rock Island. I have pics of the dealership somewhere in my files.
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Badger, This letterhead did not have the ad on it, I added that. I'm thinking it's about 1920 Harley letterhead, so Novotny owned the HD franchise then. The guy that gave it to me had one for McGuinnis but he didn't let me copy it & sold it & a pile of great stuff. He was married to Lee's daughter. Lee had 3 bikes & tons of NOS parts going way back. Lee wouldn't talk to me about motorcycles,said it was bad memories. Some guys from TN talked him into letteng them sell it all for him. Lee never got a dime. This included a nice OP 1928 JDH factory hillclimber. A few thought the one Bertrange traded away at Davenport many years ago was Lee's JDH. When Lee died his kids filled a large dumpster full of paper & collectibles. When the guy dumped the load an Iver Johnson hat flew out & he saved it & gave it to another friend of mine.
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Thanx Badger, The brothers were born in Tipton Iowa. Vern "Shorty" is on find a grave but not John. Vern is buried here in Iowa City at the very cool,Oakland cemetery. John was married in 1936 in Milwalkee & had a son born in Wisconsin in 1942 & daughter in 1945 illinois. Here is a '48 Panhead that Novotny's sold new to James Ronan from my hometown, Lone Tree Iowa. James is not in this 1955 pic. James bought it age 17 in his junior year. He told me his Dad bought it for him. They went to Novotny's & looked. Everybody was waiting for the new glide model & this was sitting there,he liked the red paint & he rode it home. He only had 800 miles on it when he sold it out of his barn in 1969 to my childhood motorcycle mentor Stroker....in pic, Ron King with nephews...all 3 rode Harleys!
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Back to the letterhead with motorcycles & bicycles, 1923 would still fit because 1918-1923 was when Harley made bicycles. My guess is the letter heads were not changed yearly. Here is 2 more pics with Jim Ronans 1948 when Stroker bought it in '69, There was a large gathering of mostly Chicago bike clubs at Iowa City's reservoir. DC Eagles, Midnight Riders, a few of the galloping Gooses & 1 other. My family camping group was the closest to the clubs.Nothing cooler as a 9 year old surrounded by hundreds of choppers. The '48 was stolen that Saturday & a guy was seen walking into the water carrying 2 red fenders. Saturday night was a brutal rainstorm & we woke up to about 25 clubbers sleeping under our converted school bus. My mother gave them salt for their sore throats.Stroker didn't develop the pics untill 1970 & forgot he had taken these. Matchbook is for the shop that Stroker worked at & these pics are out back. Stroker's '56 KH chopper is in 1 pic.
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I am a Find a Grave contributor. I was surprised when I was researching racers years ago. Ed Kretz & Ed Jr didn't have pages or links so I found their graves & added them. The Davidson family had pages but no links. I told William Godfrey Davidson about adding the links. [Willie G] He said he knew who they were but had never been on Find a Grave & planned on looking at it. Todays pic is Iowa City motorcycle races 1914-1915 era.
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Maybe this one was sold or serviced by McGuinnis. 1940s pic at Riverside Pond, Moline Illinois cop giving "snake" rides behind his Sidecar rig.
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Great picture 1939wl. Obviously, 1937 ELs with lots of interesting features but that doesn't necessarily date the picture. I love old cars too, and there was a great site called "The Old Motor" that said goodbye last year. I was staggered by the incredible knowledge of "The Old Motor" contributors who could see a fuzzy license plate and tell you the year and location from that plate and know the fender, trim, wheel, and window design of any car in the picture. We're motorcycle geeks on our stuff, but cars were more common and knowing cars dated motorcycle pictures more accurately. Thanks for the great picture, John.Eric Smith
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Esther Winders, University Heights, Iowa City cop on a Sportster
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Esther Winders MC Cop, Iowa City IA. She was quite the character ! Pearl Handled Revolver,on a Sportster. This was silver, her later Sporty posted above, was white.
HD Esther Winders David Luck photo.jpg HD Esther Winders UHeights cop.jpgLast edited by duffeycycles; 01-27-2026, 08:55 AM.Comment
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1941 Iowa City Police small box Servicar. Last year for the small box. This trike had been used on a dairy farm using the box to hold the milk tanks. It was painted with white barn paint. I remember the Servicars leading funeral processions.
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