1936 Harley Davidson Party Shawano Wisconsin Herbs Book

[bobphd]

In Herbert Wagners book Harley Davidson 1930-1941 he describes a party held in Shawano Wisconsin during June of 1936. This was a big event sponsored by the MOCO and was kind of a coming out party for the 1936 EL. Does anyone know which weekend in June this was held ? I live near there and know where some of the pictures in Herbs book were taken. This being the 75th anniversary of this event I would like to visit these places on the anniversary date. I would think that there must have been a write up in a late 36 Enthusiast.

Thanks
Bob Patza
AMCA 13275

[bobphd]

Thanks for the info badger34. Sounds like the third weekend in June 1936 was probably it. I'll be celebrating this 75th anniversary Saturday the 18th through Monday the 21st. Could you possibly post the image of your Grandfather in front of the Shawano train staition ? I would love to see it.

Bob

[HarleyCreation]

Rally in Shawano Newspaper

In Herbert Wagners book Harley Davidson 1930-1941 he describes a party held in Shawano Wisconsin during June of 1936. This was a big event sponsored by the MOCO and was kind of a coming out party for the 1936 EL. Does anyone know which weekend in June this was held ? I live near there and know where some of the pictures in Herbs book were taken. This being the 75th anniversary of this event I would like to visit these places on the anniversary date. I would think that there must have been a write up in a late 36 Enthusiast.

Thanks
Bob Patza
AMCA 13275

Bob,

If you want the full scoop on the 1936 rally go to the Shawano public library and look up reports in the "Shawano Evening Leader" newspaper, June 6, June 13, and June 15, 1936 issues. It's all covered there, including the big hillclimb at Lime Kiln Hill. Go out there! You might find parts that fell off somebody's bike! Those articles will make your trip more fun. Wish we could be there!

Thanks for reading the book. Most all of those old guys interviewed are all gone now. I didn't have those Shawano newspaper articles when I wrote the book but only found them later on a trip thru your area. They should be helpful.

[HarleyCreation]

The occasion was Wisconsin's first state motorcycle rally. I haven't had any luck yet searching for the 1936 certain dates but I can tell you that in 1937 and 1938 it was on the third weekend in June, also Father's day weekend. I have family photos dated June 19th 1937 and June 18th 1938 that confirm the Shawano rally dates for those two years. I have one photo of my Grandfather with his '35 VL in front of the Shawano train station from the rally in 1936 but no specified day. Unless someone comes up with the absolute dates you could assume that it was held also on the third weekend of June in 1936 which would have been the 20th and 21st.

Dave,

Glad I caught you here. By chance I ran across Joe Dobner's name in the 1938 regs. Maybe you already knew this but if not you'll like it:

#85 Jos. Dobner, 1660 S. 69th, Milwaukee, 35RL2063.

So your grandfather also owned a 1935 RL in 1938. Do you know if he owned more than one bike? Maybe a big twin and also a 45 for Class C events? Do you have photos of him with 35RL2063?

[bobphd]

Thanks for the advice Herb. I went to the library after work and just as you said it is all there. So the event was held the second week end in June of 36 which was the 13th and 14th. There is also a picture in the June 17th edition of local Al Campchure and his 36EL. As this is the second weekend of June coming up and I will be riding to the Beuwulf MC summer party for the 30th time in southwestern Wisconsin, I will be celebrating this 75th anniversary on the actual dates on the 13th and 14th. I will visit some of the sites in the pictures on my 36 and have a few beers at some of the same places the riders of long ago did.

Thanks again Herb and Dave !
Bob

[c.o.]

Bob!!! That's a really cool idea to retrace the steps of the folks that had the big shindig back in '36. I recall reading an article on Art Stauff where he told a story about that Gypsy Tour in Shawano. He said that they had planned to serve free food and beer but by lunch time it was raining like crazy. The beer servers bailed on a keg with the tap wide open and 400 pounds of meat and several truck loads of buns were soaked!!! They went without lunch that day but all was good and the next day went off without a hitch.
The fact that you're going to do this on a mighty OHV 61 makes it all that much better!!! Have a great ride!!!

Herb, I had to dig out my copy of your book to have a look at what Bob was referring to and found myself sucked into the pages again. Great stuff!!! I'm glad you took the time to interview those folks and put it in writing so others could enjoy their stories.

[Lonnie]

Of all the Harley-related books that I have, that one is my favorite.l

[HarleyCreation]

Thanks for the advice Herb. I went to the library after work and just as you said it is all there. So the event was held the second week end in June of 36 which was the 13th and 14th. There is also a picture in the June 17th edition of local Al Campchure and his 36EL. As this is the second weekend of June coming up and I will be riding to the Beuwulf MC summer party for the 30th time in southwestern Wisconsin, I will be celebrating this 75th anniversary on the actual dates on the 13th and 14th. I will visit some of the sites in the pictures on my 36 and have a few beers at some of the same places the riders of long ago did.

Thanks again Herb and Dave !
Bob

Good stuff, eh?

I must have missed the issue of the 17th with the photo of Al Campshure on his 36EL.

Is the photo any good?

That was some year if you were a Harley guy with a steady job, money, and looking for new technology. Flatheads have their own appeal (simplicity, etc.) but it was time for a change and the new EL just looked so perfect too.

Imagine it. Buying a brand new EL in 1936 and immediately throwing it around on the slant and other rough work! Find out pretty quick how strong that frame wasn't.

Bob, have a great ride and tip one for us too!

[HarleyCreation]

Bob!!! That's a really cool idea to retrace the steps of the folks that had the big shindig back in '36. I recall reading an article on Art Stauff where he told a story about that Gypsy Tour in Shawano. He said that they had planned to serve free food and beer but by lunch time it was raining like crazy. The beer servers bailed on a keg with the tap wide open and 400 pounds of meat and several truck loads of buns were soaked!!! They went without lunch that day but all was good and the next day went off without a hitch.
The fact that you're going to do this on a mighty OHV 61 makes it all that much better!!! Have a great ride!!!

Herb, I had to dig out my copy of your book to have a look at what Bob was referring to and found myself sucked into the pages again. Great stuff!!! I'm glad you took the time to interview those folks and put it in writing so others could enjoy their stories.

Cory,

Interviewing those old timers was very interesting. Almost like stepping into a time machine, esp when they opened their photo albums. Only wish I had started 10-15 years earlier. Luckily I did realize that riders active in the 1930s and even '20s would not be around much longer--and they weren't.

I don't think I've seen that article by Art Stauff (who worked at H-D at that time). Looks like Dave posted the link to it below.

[Chris Haynes]

I hear lots of people talking about the weakness of the '36 E frame. I must admit that the majority of them I see at 75+ years old are not broken. Many were subject to racing because of their light weight. Now with that being said one of my own '36 frames, once a chopper, did have a broken seat post tube. The other had no breaks. I will be pulling a sidecar with my '36 but it will be gently. PS, My seat post tube has now been greatly reinforced inside.

[HarleyCreation]

Of all the Harley-related books that I have, that one is my favorite.l

Thanks Lonnie!

That work could be updated with additional photos and material (like the Shawano paper and Art Stauff articles), altho it probably never will be. The title should also be more descriptive of what the work is about, the times and trials of the immortal "61 OHV."

Even guys on their deathbeds (literally!) come out of their comas and mouthed the words: "sixty-one overhead" like a holy mantra. No joke. That bike took the world by storm and it's still building today.

Good old Bill Harley and the gang!

[HarleyCreation]

.

Herb, thank you for that piece of information. It's very possible that 35RL2063 is in the following picture from Shawano in 1936. In talking with my Father this evening I found that my Grandpa Joe did not get his 1935 VL until 1942 or 1943. He owned two or three different H-D's in the 30's but in 1943 he purchased a new farm home and sold his newer cycle and auto to finance the farm purchase, it was then that he purchased his 1935 Vl which he then owned for about the next fifteen years. Heck, he also always had the company bikes to ride and my Dad says that at times there where three bikes in the garage. I do know that he never owned racing motorcycles, we believe his only competition came in endurance events like the Badger Derby.

Nice photo from Shawano!

Good info on Joe Dobner. Again I apologize for leaving him out of the book. He should have been in there.

What was Joe riding when he won the Badger Derby? A 45 or a Big Twin? What was the year of that win? 1934 maybe?

Another good old timer who could have told us plenty about H-D and those classic '30s bikes.

[HarleyCreation]

Also, here is a link to the 1962 American Motorcyclist Art Stauff article.

http://books.google.com/books?id=c_o...201936&f=false

Excellent! I'll have to check that out. That one is new to me.

Thanks!

[HarleyCreation]

I hear lots of people talking about the weakness of the '36 E frame. I must admit that the majority of them I see at 75+ years old are not broken. Many were subject to racing because of their ligh weight. Now with that being said one of my own '36 frames, once a chopper, did have a broken seat post tube. The other had no breaks. I will be pulling a sidecar with my '36 but it will be gently. PS, My seat post tube has now been greatly reinforced inside.

Chris,

Good points. Possibly I am biased. But the 36EL frame I once owned and that resided under my dad's basement steps for so long that he threatened to throw it out was broken and repaired in several places and finally discarded in a Harley Graveyard! It even had the factory repair number stamped near the seat tube. I think it also had extra sleeves added to front downtubes. The major breaks were under the rear motor mounts and another by the tool box bracket. It was from a bike in the low 2000s.

It had seen VERY hard use. The bottom frame tubes were all dented in and bashed. The bike had been used for rough stuff and no mistake and then the motor, trans, tanks, and wheels removed before I got a very rough chassis.

Stupidly I sold it before I knew it's significance and some of the 36EL parts were then lost. But then the guy brought the frame back when he found under the thick grease it was broken. It took another decade or more before I learned was it was.

Good luck with yours. The 36EL is a treasure. Where did you find yours?

[HarleyCreation]

What a great article! Lots of good factory inside info about Harley-Davidson. Yippee!

I like the comment about old Art Stauff riding his motorcycle to the factory EVERY day year round with those great photos of him too. That was a tradition among the old timers to ride every day. A badge of honor. Like Wm. H. Davidson said: "No one told us to. We just did it."

Nice detail about hitting a 400 lb hog during a Milwaukee gypsy tour. Too bad it doesn't give the year. Maybe that was the original Harley HOG!

That Stauff singled out the 1936 Shawano rally in his story shows how important and memorable that coming out party for the "61 OHV" was. A good year.

Incidently, the "unidentified" man on the extreme far left in the lower photo on the first page is almost certainly Art Earlenbaugh, also known as the "Sheik" because he was popular with the ladies. He's in the book and in articles because he was one of Knuth's top slant-artists and rode both the "Two-Cam/45 OHV" hybrid and also the "Knuth Special" during the late '20s. He also worked at Knuths and in Harley's experimental department but died young around 1940-41.

Earlenbaugh was also the guy who eerily crash-landed on Eddie Brinck's grave--a stanger-than-fiction true story told by Bill Knuth.

Stauff worked at H-D for 50-1/2 years. He was of the old school who was married to the place. Ken's dad worked there for a LONG time too, but I forget exactly how long. Joe Geiger holds the all-time record at around 63 years and 11 months. Geigern was secretary in the engineering department and I missed him by just six months!