27 JD Restoration

[Steve Swan]

It about killed me to drill a hole in my front fender for the whippet. Dad owned a Whippet automobile.

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[painterdale]

Steve, well worth it to drill a little hole so you can carry a memory of your Dad with you! I think of my Dad every day.

Dale

[Rubone]

Nice Steve!

[Steve Swan]

Thanks for showing the cool sign, Robbie!

[Steve Swan]

Thank you for your kind words, Dale. I am with you on Dad's. i wish i knew half what he did. Some men from that era had no lack for being inquisitive, having ingenuity, persistence, patience, used hardship as an opportunity for better things and not afraid of hard work.

[montuckymatt]

Steve, I just read your whole thread start to finish. Great story, great bike. Thanks for sharing this journey on the board. I really enjoyed it. -Matt in Montana

[Steve Swan]

Matt, thank you for taking time to read the story of my JD. Welcome to the discussion board. Montana is a great state. I am guessing good 'ol GD is your grandfather...? what do you have for bikes?

[montuckymatt]

Thanks for the welcome Steve. Gd stands for grateful dead. I'm a huge fan and have been for years. I currently ride a 1937 U. My father was very into old Harleys till health reasons forced him to quit riding. He rode a 61 pan all over the country and had a 41 knuck as well. He bought me 3 aeromachi sprints when I was 15 for $500. I made one run out of the three and so began my love for old bikes.

[Steve Swan]

ound pieces of Edelmann spotlights on ebay to make one good one, the switch handle on the LH lite is nickle, the RH is bakelite. i have another spotlight with a nickle switch handle on the way, so hopefully i can swap out the bakelite switch handle for the nickle handle.

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[ihrescue]

before i got 27JD11090, over the decades i would look at, hold this can shake the can..... probably 15 years ago, it sprang a leak at the seam, leaking a delightful sticky smelly turpentine smell. VERY CONCERNING because i KNEW SOMEDAY, i would have a JD and would need that paint.

Steve's comments here about ancient paint, its link to his father, and the paint driving Steve to a JD is one of the many back story parts that I love about the Member Bike Builds. Then to tie it in with a skeptical paint mixer is perfect. Way to tell it Steve.

Mike Love

[Steve Swan]

Mike, thank you for your kind words. You really said it well on the chain of people, places and things that create the fine stories we share here on the build thread. Motorcycles are part of my soul. i remember being in college, a freshman, the school didn't allow freshman to have vehicles. So i found a garage for my bike to keep it till i they let me have it back. i scotch-taped stencil letters, "I LOVE MOTORCYCLES," on my dorm window. Motorcycles represent so many different things to me, i could write a small book. i remember working 3 jobs to get me through nursing school, the one job was the night shift in a nursing home. of all things, i brought the gearbox from by 1960 DBD34 Gold Star into work and rebuilt it when the shift was slow. i finished the bike in our basement efficiency apartment, still remember pulling it up the 2 flights of stairs. still have the #3 piston from the '34 Indian 4 Dad bought on Don Foster's farm auction in 1967. finished the chassis rebuild in our upstairs apartment in my next to last semester of nursing school. stories, stories, stories, we all have 'em. this could make a good topic for members to share their stories.

[ihrescue]

Chalk up another use for a drill chuck. Is that a 1/2"? I use a smaller Jacobs as a vice for small stuff. I need to rig it up to fit on a tool handle like that.

Nice work

Mike Love

[Steve Swan]

Chalk up another use for a drill chuck. Is that a 1/2"? I use a smaller Jacobs as a vice for small stuff. I need to rig it up to fit on a tool handle like that.

Nice work

Mike Love

Mike, sorry i missed your post, in response i was looking for any pic i might of posted of the Jacobs chuck i made a hand tool out of but i couldn't seem to get my eyes on it, the darn thing has always been super handy over the years, so here is a pic of what i made, it's 3/8 inch. also i found a second Edelmann spotlight with a black Bakelite handle switch to match the first one and the shiny nickle little 5-1/2 inch front fender Whippet ornament (my Dad had a Whippet automobile). that and i have a pair of brand new factory Wright spark plugs with the original connectors coming off the wires to the knurled nuts on the plugs.

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[TechNoir]

Your Dad's 27 is super nice and I really like the twin spotlights.

John

[Steve Swan]

Your Dad's 27 is super nice and I really like the twin spotlights.

John

Thanks John, for your kind comment. i felt lucky to find a second Bakelite handled Edelmann to replace the one nickle handled one. The first one i bought must have been nos, it had the advertised 6 foot of perfect condition original weaved cloth cord, so i had enough cord for this second light. Both the reflectors are like new, the one that looks nos had only a coupe barely perceptible flaws in black paint, the other had suffered its age a bit, but nothing that a bit of matching black touch up couldn't fix. here's an Edelmann ad i found from 1922 which shows the 4-1/2" "Auto-Ray" lite like mine except the ones in the ad show a nickle switch handle and as i mentioned earlier, the handles on mine are Bakelite. I definitely don't have the "Rex" which is a whopping 6 inches in diameter. note both ads mention the 6 foot of cord. would like to have a set of Kay-Bee spots as advertised in the '27 factory accessory catalog, but i've found no leads on any.

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