Fall magazine

[HarleyCreation]

Thanks Cotten.

It's always nice to hear whether one's hitting the mark -- or not.

[Chris Haynes]

Thanks Cotten.

It's always nice to hear whether one's hitting the mark -- or not.

Speaking of hitting the mark. Have you finished the investigation on the fate of the Meyer-Sparough machine?

[HarleyCreation]

Speaking of hitting the mark. Have you finished the investigation on the fate of the Meyer-Sparough machine?

No, that investigation is still hanging in 1916. But we have enough on Mr. Lang's mean green Florida machine to hit the bullseye. If the Fates are kind you guys will know all about it by and by.

[cdf6333]

Any chance of letting me know what appalled ya?
Bob Courboin, AMCA Advertising

[T. Cotten]

Any chance of letting me know what appalled ya?
Bob Courboin, AMCA Advertising

Bob!

After becoming awestruck by Mr. Wagner's fine piece, I turned the page to the profile on the Walkslers' magnificent '37 H-D.
However the introductory text was most disturbing.

I quote:
"To anyone who knows Harley Davidsons from the 1930s, there are several obvious things wrong with the bike pictured here."

"For starters, this 1937 flathead, 74-cubic-inch has its hand-shifter on the right side of the gas tank -- opposite of Harley practice and the same side typically used by its rival, Indian."

Most folks realize that both American marques produced the shifter on both sides, for many years. The H-D Parts Books devote two and a half pages to the right-hand shifter!
Let us hope that no enthusiasts, (much less AMCA judges), take these "obvious things wrong" as valid faults. They are "obvious" historical truths.

Further I quote:
"Then there's the lack of an ignition distributor between the cylinders. Everybody knows that Harleys came with distributors, while Indian was better known for its magneto ignition -- just like you find on this machine."

Folks, "everybody knows" that a "distributor" distributes the spark to cylinders independently, through a rotor and a cap with leads to individual cylinders. H-D's twins of the era commonly used a simple circuit breaker that fired both cylinders simultaneously, producing a "dead spark". That's why H-D literature refers to it as a "circuit breaker", or merely as a "timer".
To add yet another irony, Indian had already introduced a true distributor, the Autolight assembly with a proper rotor and cap.
Calling the H-D ignition a "distributor" is bar room slang unbecoming of this magazine.

Back to the quotes: "But you'd probably never guess who was responsible for this crime against truth, justice, and the Harley way. As it turns out, the guilty party was Harley-Davidson itself"

The only crime against truth has been perpetrated by this article's introduction. AMCA Inc. should hope that H-D's zealous legions of lawyers have a sense of humor.

The Walkslers are owed an apology for staging their marvelous piece of History in poor light, and it might be prudent to include H-D as well!

.....Cotten

[Sargehere]

Magazine showed up here today, 13th of September, out in the wilderness of the western suburbs of Orlando, Florida.
Two weeks after some. Postal service like that makes the "for sale" ads about useless. I vote for First Class mail. It's a beautiful issue, and Herb Wagner's piece is another excellent piece of research, well documented and presented.
I, too, noticed that the editor, Mr. Wood, called the Harley ignition timer ("that everyone knows (is a) 'distributor,'") and blanched. I would have sent him a more private note than posting it here, but since the subject's been raised, I think the AMCA Editor may need to run his technical articles like that past someone who has more marque expertise in the future. In this case, Dale Walksler would have caught that big one, I'd think. This is a tough audience when it comes to marque details.

About the r.h. shifter and all that, it was just the writers' word choice and perhaps his imagination ran away from him. It sounds like it was apparently new news to him when he just/first found out about the 1930s Harley-Indian police market rivalry, at least that's how he wrote it, but to this audience the "gee whiz" has probably long worn off that subject. Along with most of his readers, I think I've known about the opposite shift options for police Harleys and Indians for 30 or 40 years. It doesn't rise to lawsuit fodder as Cotten warns, but it's at least unbecoming prose style in the premier antique motorcycle magazine in the world. If you'll pardon me. Just my 2¢.

[Tom Lovejoy]

Still have not got my mag, dang - needless to say. I am for the first class postage option.