Find Orginal Owner

[Underdoggie]

Are there any Peoria Motorcycle club members on the site? If so, I am looking for information about the Peoria licence plate holder in this picture and possibly more information about the first owner of my 65 FL. According to Wayne Weibler from Walters Brothers these were cast in the aluminum piston foundry at Caterpillar for members of the PMC. I have never seen another one around here. Cat quit making their own pistons in the late 60's. A member of the PMC (passed away now) told me the bike looked familar to him and gave me a name of the guy he thinks owned the bike. I can document everything that has happend to this bike since the Spring of 1979 but know very litttle about the first 14 years.

[Chris Haynes]

I have seen many frames and toppers with the names of cities on them. That doesn't necessarily mean it was the name of a club.

[T. Cotten]

Chris!

There could hardly have been a commercial venture to produce such a product without having the local Dealership and AMA affiliate intimately involved.

Peoria was perhaps 150,000 population in 1965.
Other area shops, even import franchises, were little more than Mom'n'Pop operations.

Caterpillar was the region's tour de force, other than brewing.
And the local Dealership held sovereignty over a fifty-mile radius for generations.

If the frame had been brass, I would have suspected it was cast only a few blocks from the Dealership at a CAT subcontractor. But aluminum casting remained heavy industry's domain until relatively modern times.

An incredible legacy of "government work" passed out of the gates of the The Great Yellow God over the decades, and such a piece falls right in the groove. But as a local, I have never witnessed another example.
That also leads one to conclude that it was produced for a very select few,..
And believe me, the PMC were traditionally a very arrogant and exclusive group.

...Cotten

[Underdoggie]

I realize the frame does not mean this was the name of a club. I am only going on comments from the owner of the local dealership and also a old mechanic I knew in the 70's that worked there that these were made for members of the PMC. I just want to document it somehow.
Woody (passed away now) at Walters Bros. rememberd servicing the bike when it was new, mostly from the full front wheel cover. I asked Wayne if I could find out who the orginal owner was but he said they dont keep sale records that far back so I didnt get anywhere that way.
Cotten, you sure are right about the PMC being an exclusive group. I have tried to get some info about this from them with no luck. The only contact I had there was Dale Megan and he has passed on.
As a Tool maker apprentice from Caterpillar I know this level of quality would have been very easy. I also know first hand how much really high quality government work passed thru the doors. There sure was a lot of it on my first few bikes.
I also know Caterpillar had a special aluminum foundry, patternmakers and machine shop just for Pistons back then. I am thinking one of the patternmakers might have been a PMC member, who knows?

[Northwoods_Maine]

Given the facts stated, I think you're on the right track. Probably done in house at Cat by an employee as an "after hours" project. Good luck in your search for your bike's history.