1965 Pan Questions

[Underdoggie]

battery cover

Well,
I went to ebay this morning and I will be darned if I could find the item with all the pictures in it again, it may be finished. I did keep several pictures tho and here is another one dated June 1965 with a bike that has a chrome battery cover. I also noticed that this bike plus the previous one I posted have some different saddle bag bars.

[rbenash]

UD - thanks for the post/info. Looking at that photo the cover appears to be smooth, but can't really tell.

[Underdoggie]

Ray, Take a look at the post I did previous to this one, you can see the cover clearly.

[rbenash]

What's the search string you were using to find the listing? If it was a recent auction you can do an advanced search and still find it by looking at completed auctions.

Let me know if I can help.

[rbenash]

Here they are:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Circa-19...1%7C240%3A1318

[rbenash]

Ray, Take a look at the post I did previous to this one, you can see the cover clearly.

Yes, that's the one I was referring to. Looks like a smooth cover. Not to early in the year that there may have been 3rd party accessories perhaps. I like these photos, nice for added reference!

Thanks for posting, still early enough to make some copies. The posts are still up.

[rbenash]

Cool photos! Looking at the red, blue, and black '65 bikes along with the dates on the photos these got modified pretty quick. Probably bought them in mid to late 64? The red one in the last photo already has the covers polished ;-) In the other photos it does look like that battery side cover is smooth. Hard to tell though for sure. I'm going to guess that 3rd party accessories were available several months after the new model introductions. Would be good to know. Fun looking through these.

[bmh]

A simple flat cover could've been fabricated by any good metal shop. Just two bends on the right size piece. Could've even had it done out of stainless and polished it rather then the time and trouble of chrome. Just my thoughts as that's what I would most likely have done.

[rbenash]

A simple flat cover could've been fabricated by any good metal shop. Just two bends on the right size piece. Could've even had it done out of stainless and polished it rather then the time and trouble of chrome. Just my thoughts as that's what I would most likely have done.

Yeah, pretty easy to fabricate them I'm sure. But I also think that by say June of 05 there was a good 9 months or more for the 3rd party folks to crank out some accessories and the dealer may have sold them. Those covers do look smooth to me, but again the photos are small (they actually look like they might have been taken with a 126 cartridge camera) and hard to really tell. The photos in themselves are pretty cool though.

[Underdoggie]

I think Brian may be right. For example, on mid 70's superglides the battery covers always had a window cut in them to see the water level in the battery. I hated that, I wanted one like the FLH's so I had a buddy at a fab shop make one, it looked exactly the same except for the window. After a while lots of guys who saw it wanted one. I still have two left after all these years.

[Chris Haynes]

The smooth covers were an aftermarket item.

[bmh]

Lots of that went on. Here in Pa up untill a decade or so agoour MC license plates were a different size then anyone else in the country and you couldn't get a frame to fit them. A local metal shop started folding frames out of stainless and sold a lot of them. They were in the display case at almost any shop you stopped at.

[Underdoggie]

Do you take what Greg Fields says as documentation? To me if there is no factory documentation it doesn't exist.

I just looked at my August 1964 Enthusiast, the New model Announcement. There is no information about The King Of The Highway Group in it.

The information about the King Of The Highway Group in "The Legend Begins" does mention a chrome battery cover. Not a ribbed cover but a chrome cover. However it does not specify which cover top or side. It is listed as part number 66370-65. Looking in the 1965 parts book I find 66370-65 listed as the top cover.

So the bottom line here is that the 1965 Panheads had a painted battery cover unless it had the King Of The Highway Group. Then it had a chrome top cover. The chrome top cover could also be ordered seperately as optional equipment.

There was no side cover offered for a 1965, painted, chromed, or ribbed.

Chris,
I was at Davenport with my 65FL, It was my first AMCA event and I have to say I was impressed by everything and am really glad I joined. I felt my score was pretty impressive at 98.25. I took your comments to heart about the battery cover. I took my ribbed cover off and actually got a 1/4 point deduction for not having it on the bike, I also had a 1/4 point deduction each for not having a master cyl. cover and a starter spring cover. It did kind of confuse me a little as the first time I ever saw this bike at the original owners house it it did not have those three covers on it and also the factory photos dont show them but I guess I am still learning.
I think I'm going to go to two or three meets next year. If they are all as much fun as Davenport I might not be able to take it. I may have to drink more beer to stay relaxed or something.
Underdoggie

[rbenash]

UD - thanks for that info!! And congrats on that 98.25 too! Judged as a restoration or original?

[Underdoggie]

UD - thanks for that info!! And congrats on that 98.25 too! Judged as a restoration or original?

It was in as an original, Engine has never been apart, orginal paint, all that, I did have to take the tranny out when I got ita s my buddy the second owner ran the chain too tight and took out the brass bushing on the main drive gear. It would really leave its mark on the ground everywhere you went. It still does not leak today, Here is a picture of it in 1989 with my wife on it, Notice the battery cover and master cyl. cover on it, I put those on when I first got it.

And here it is at the old camp site in Davenport last weekend. I did take that sheepskin off for the judging. Notice no battery cover, starter cover or master cyl. cover.