mystery 1965 tanks

[T. Cotten]

There were many '65s produced with tankshifts using the previous years' 3.5 tanks.

My first one (of three) came from the Kansas City department (I was told, anyway.)

There is even a specific -65 transmission handshift lid for them, with the huge neutral switch for the electric foot.

....Cotten

[jorrow]

Thanks JWL, that would be great. What I'm getting at here guys is that 1965 used '63-64 3 1/2 gallon tanks for there tank shift that year we all know that, but the paint scheme for 1965 did not lend itself to the much lower emblem mount of the 3 1/2 gallon tank. Therefore they had to either deviate or make it look really ugly by placing all the white panel below the emblem. I have seen it done that way on a "restored bike", and I knew it must be wrong, however I've yet to find an original paint example. According to JWL it did exactly what I had thought and split the panel above the emblem. Yes a pic would be great...thanks.

[jwl]

photos of panhead tanks

These are 3 1/2 gallon handshift tanks on an original paint 65 Panhead. Hope you can figure out the paint scheme from these pictures.

[jwl]

2nd attempt at posting pictures of tanks

I'm sorry, I'm having a heck of a time posting these tank pictures. I'll try again. Might have to do it twice to get both tanks.

[jorrow]

Incredible shots, i've been looking for this missing link forever....thanks again...jeff.

[T. Cotten]

Why would they paint them different from the fat tanks?
(Isn't that supposed to be Hi-Fi Red on top?)

Sorry this scan is so poor, but both machines have 3.5 tanks with shifters.
(One still survives in the Chicago area.)
Obviously, neither are Factory paint jobs,..
but at least they still look like 65s!

...Cotten

[jwl]

I'm thinking that the reason they painted them differently is simply because the emblems are mounted lower on the 3 1/2 gallon tanks than they are on the 5 gallon tanks. If the top color came down far enough to encompass the emblem there wouldn't be much room for the bottom color. My machine is Holiday Red, the standard color for 1965. Hi-Fi Red was an optiional color.