57 police saddlebags

[m71cycle]

I am looking for a se of police bags for a 1957.They are made of steel and the radio is in the left bag. Can anyone help me with this? I am restoring this bike back to a police model and need these bag to complete the project. Any lead would be appriciated!

[Chris Haynes]

Those steel bags were aftermarket items. Not made by H-D. Usually the radio was mounted on a rack on top of the rear fender and not in the bag.

[BEK]

'57 police bags

m71cycle,

I found these pictures in the book Harley-Davidson Police Motorcycles by Robert & Robin Genet. If you read the caption on the second picture, they mention Dale Walksler from Wheels Through Time museum. Maybe he could help you out.

[Chris Haynes]

Those are NOT saddlebags. Those are radio bags. BIG DIFFERENCE! I believe that Paul Wheeler has them RePopped, without internals.

[m71cycle]

How can i get ahold of this Paul Wheeler.

[m71cycle]

I think that this is the correct pic of the bike i'm doing. The radio would be in the left bag. You can see the antenna on the left side,and the mic-speaker on the handlebar raiser. I have seen a set of these radio boxes. You are a wheath of info. keep up the good work. Thanks

[Rubone]

In the Motorola books the right side box is the receiver housing and the left side the transmitter for the two way FM radio. The earlier radios(pre '48) were receiver only. By the '60s the radios were much smaller and there was a pair of Royalite bags with a radio carrier inside it and extended top bands to hold the lids. The most common '60s style is top of fender mounted in the big flat Motorola box.
Robbie

[bmh]

These pics might be useful, article appeared in the Jan 1951 Entusiast.

[Chris Haynes]

In the Motorola books the right side box is the receiver housing and the left side the transmitter for the two way FM radio. The earlier radios(pre '48) were receiver only. By the '60s the radios were much smaller and there was a pair of Royalite bags with a radio carrier inside it and extended top bands to hold the lids. The most common '60s style is top of fender mounted in the big flat Motorola box.
Robbie

Like this?

[Rubone]

Exactly!
Robbie

[Snakeoil]

How can i get ahold of this Paul Wheeler.

I spent some time searching for Paul Wheeler on the web in association with motorcycles and Harleys. I found several references to a collector and restorer named Paul Wheeler in Van Nuys, CA. I tried to locate him in the phone book using anywho.com with no luck.

I would think that he's and AMCA member so somebody must know how to contact him, or maybe the AMCA mothership can give you contact info for him.

[Perry Ruiter]

Like this?

Interesting image Chris since that looks like a regular saddlebag rather than the police bags with the taller metal strip. Is that a prototype picture? ... Perry

[Rubone]

The last picture is just like the pair of NOS ones that I had, traded off long ago. I recall the top strip as being chrome and about 1 3/4" to 2" wide. The lids were special as well, they had a deeper tongue to fit with the extended top. Seems like the parts book lists them until '68, way past the use of any other Royalite bags.
Robbie

[kurly]

'57 Sheriff bike

My '57 was a Racine WI Sheriff bike. Racine is the next county south of Milwaukee. Jerry "Red" Walsh is shown at work. The pictures of the radio rack (which I presently have off the bike) are of the style used in the Racine area in '57. Red passed away a couple of years ago, but his son also a retired Racine County Sheriff might be helpful in specific details. I hope this helps. Kurly

[Rubone]

Kurly
The type of radio rack you show is the earlier type that was phased out in the early '50s. Some PDs still used them after the new type came out in '49. The radios in those days cost almost as much as the bikes so departments regularly stripped them off old units and mounted them on new ones. One of the reasons radio parts are so hard to find. Most police units auctioned off had the radio removed. Old ones were kept for parts. I have been to several PD radio shops in the '70s and '80s looking for the stuff and told that they "used to have a pile of it but junked it all". Heartbreaking news.
Robbie