Sam Elliot

Every wonder what kind of bike Sam Elliot would ride? As I do most Saturday mornings, I was searching the net for bikes for sale. The last few weeks I had seen this generator Shovel for sale. Now I normally would call about that right away, but this bike had been for sale for almost a year; something must be wrong with it right? Well me being me, I called on the bike anyways. A man answered the phone and later that night Josh and I loaded up in our hippy van and headed north to the bike. The ride was beautiful the sun was low on the Michigan country side, farmers fields lined the sides of the roads. When I got to the house, I knocked at the door and was stunned by who answered. Now it was wasn’t really Sam but walk, talk, look, and maybe even kick my ass like Sam Elliot, this guy did; he said his name was Scarecrow. He showed us the bike, a cool gen shovel motor in ridged frame, but it was built back in 90s so the tanks and rear fender were a little dated, but still a cool bike. We got to talking over the bike and I finally asked if I ran? Scarecrow pumped the gas, turned the key and gave it a kick. That chop fired to life, he jumped on her and was down the road jamming gears, the bike ran great. After dickering for a bit, I scored the old scoot for $3000.00. Scarecrow and his wife Sunshine were super nice people; we talked and laughed for quite awhile. The ride home was one of excitement, Josh had ideas running though his head of a chopper build using this bike has a base, the sun was just setting over the farm fields of Michigan and I could not have been happier with the bike. It’s always a great day when I can score a generator shovel. (It’s still for sale) Vern was an old customer of the mine, over the years he had been in and out buying hot rod parts for his shovels and twin cams over the years. Vern stopped in one day while he was out riding looking at parts, he asked me if I knew of a good mechanic for a panhead he had. I said no but I buy them, Vern said come on over. Once at his house, his pan was sitting on a lift and was the cleanest pan I had ever seen. I could see that Ron Finch had painted it at some point, the frame was re-worked by him too; it was goosed necked. The front fender had his round bar for mounts and so did the fork stops. This was a cool old chopper much like others we’ve had in the past. The bike was beautiful, but I couldn’t hear it run, I asked if Vern had any parts to go with it, he lead me out side to two sheds filled with old shovel and pan engine cases, stuff he had blown up drag racing over the years. Vern then took me above his garage and it was filled with old transmissions and different parts he had taken off bikes over the years. We made a deal on all the parts and bike for $9000.00. It took two trips to get everything, and the timing couldn’t have been better, the Wauseon swap was the next weekend, and I knew I could move most of the parts down there. With the van loaded down, a trailer and my truck and trailer, Josh and I hauled two truckloads along with two trailers full of parts and bikes to the Wauseon swap meet. The bike didn’t sell at the swap meet but sold a lot of parts and we learned a lot of new things about parts and things like always check and see if the fence is open before you climb to the top of it, only to fall over to the other side (Ryna). Once back home in Michigan, we dusted off the pan and put it in the shop, it sold right away for $8500.00. The parts and sale of the chop made the effort profitable and provided many people the opportunity to get their much needed parts. It even got the stuff out of Vern’s so he could pursue more current projects. Good news for everybody! As I’ve said so many times, “talk to people,” especially if you have the finances to purchase. Find out what they have, what they plan to do with their treasures and make them an offer to buy. Not every purchase is a homerun but if you have the time and a little patience you’ll find that it’s, not only fun but, can be can be profitable to “Turn and Burn”. If you ever want to sell some of your old parts, or bikes, give us a call at the shop we are always buying!!