Morning Glory

Have you every picked up a fender bunny at the rally, late one night. Drank all night with her, had a great time. And in the morning she give you one last ride, we call that morning glory! Well we had our morning glory not too long ago, and it isn’t as cool as that but a 75 FXE is still pretty cool. Josh was surfing the net and found an ad for a shovelhead. Like always I call about it. Come to find out it was my buddy Eric’s dad Randy. He worked nights so Josh and I had to meet up with him at 5am! I’m always telling Josh, you got to go when someone wants to sell; no matter what time of day it is. If its 3am well I guess we will see them then. Randy had bought the bike over a year ago; it was his big dream, an old shovelhead. Since then his Knees gave out on him so he couldn’t ride it. I felt so bad for the guy to finally get the dream bike only to not be able to ride it. I didn’t even try to dicker I just gave him what he was asking for the bike. I couldn’t imagine getting so close to something you’ve dreamed about only to have it taken away. Although this seems sad, Randy was not. He had all kinds of toys at his house. A big lifted up truck, 4 wheelers. So although one dream is lost another takes it place. I loved the bike, I had dreams of 6 over tubes and a king queen chopper seat. But I had to stay focused, there was another shovelhead a lady called about the day before and I was heading her way. The morning air was crisp, the sun was coming up and it was looking like summer would soon be upon us. I hadn’t really gotten much info on what this bike was. The lady said it was an old FX that her dad had owned; it only had 12,000 miles on it. Josh and I pulled in to the house a little lady walked out; gun on her hip; and you could see she was a biker chick. You know the kind, the no shit attitude, her name was Shari. Shari dad had owned the bike. I asked how did it only have 12,000 miles on it and the story began. As Shari put it “In 1970 her dad bought a brand new Harley Davidson FLH, He loved that bike and rode it everywhere. Now it was the 70’s and we lived in Detroit, he had it for two years then the bike came up missing. His bike never turned up, the insurance company bought him a brand new 1973 FLH. The bike you see here and he rode it a bit. Never really like it as much as the 70 FLH. My dad was a tough S.O.B., he was not the guy you messed with; he got word that his bike was at a local club house. He called a buddy to head over there with him. When they got there, he told his friend to wait outside until he came back out. ”Now most guy would of just called the cops or just let it go, not my dad” Sheri said. He went in that house, and a few minutes later he came out and his bike was getting pushed around from the back. Shari couldn’t remember what happed to the 70 FLH or why this bike just sat. She figured since her old man got a free bike he most of used the tag off the 73 for the 70 and just kept riding it. He loved that old bike, a few years ago he passed away and Shari wanted to get rid of this bike because she was tired of pushing it around the garage. She didn’t need the money she was pretty well off. I asked “what do you want for the bike”. She said $2000 bucks now that is a great deal, I knew that and Shari knew that, but I can’t pay asking price that just not me. So I said $1500? She quickly replied “1750” I said “sure”, Shari laughed and said “I knew you going to say that I was ready for you”! I had Josh load the bike up and I started to pay her. Shari looked at me and said “my friend said to call you and you would show up in a truck and trailer to buy it, but you only come once”. I said “well I am getting older”. (I mean I don’t have a lot of time lol). Two shovels in the trailer, Josh and I headed for the shop. It had been a great morning, it was Morning Glory.

softails and leather wallets

By the time you read this issue, spring will be here and it’s time to get back to buying and selling! Maybe even do a make-over. I love EVO’s as I’ve said before. I never pass at a chance to buy one, if you read the article (which I hope you do!!) then you know. I love buying old hot rods almost as much as I love buying old bikes (I got a 40 chevy with a big block we are doing right now, if you guys want to see it let me know and I’ll see if I can’t get a picture in the mag). One day a guy that I had bought some cars from in the past called me. He had a guy that was selling two Evo Softails. As much as I tired he wouldn’t give me the guys number. I believe he was trying to make a deal though me so that he could make a little money too ( in case you’re wondering, I do pay finder’s fees or trade for parts, I’m all about everyone making a little.) So being that I couldn’t get the guys name or number, with the bikes for sale; I said what I would pay and went on with my day. The next day I get a call from another guy, he was a painter out of Lapeer MI, he asked “are you the guy that buys bikes”?? I said “yeah if they are a good deal”. Sadly he had sold one of them but was ready to sell the other one. We haggled a little, arm wrestled, than a price was reached so I had him bring it up to the shop. When this cat arrived at the shop I finally got to take a look at the bike. What it was, was a 1995 Heritage Softail. The bike has some cool parts on it but most of it was ugly to say the least. I’m sure it looked like someone’s dream bike, but not mine. Our Internet guru, Shovelhead Joe, has been helping Josh and I around the shop, when he got the shop that after noon. Joe started to bounce ideas off me about what to do with the bike. Joe convinced me to let him take it home and play with it (persuasive little son of gun!!). Problem here is, Joe does my Ebay store; so he has been allowed into my secret layer and knows everything I have! Joe wasted no time striping down the bike taking the saddlebags off, along with the sissy bar, stock exhaust, turn signals and few other parts. With the bike striped down Joe and I made a plan. I had bought some softail parts a few weeks earlier. One of the parts was a brand new set of Hooker Headers Long Shots exhaust. Josh had tried to sell them on line a few times with no luck, now I knew right where they needed to go. Joe ordered a new lowering kit for the front and the back (of course though the shop). Most of the time at the shop we put apes on our projects, I don’t know why; I just think they look cool. But this time I thought beach bars would fit much better. The whole bike as taking on the co-low look, and I was loving it! Joe had his buddy lace up a 21 front wheel, and my buddy Jeff Hill (of Hills Hot Rods) laid some paint on a FL front fender, that finished up the Softail. The Softail was looking great; I was ready to get it online for sale. Josh took the bike and shot it. He really did a good job because my phone was ring later that night. A guy named Chris called me right away; he worked for the county and had just gotten out the air force the year before. I talked to Chris for quite a while. He told me how he was a single father taking care of his daughter, he didn’t have much money right now but was waiting to get his taxes in. When I was talking with him I got a sense of Chris and I got a good vibe. I told Chris to come get his bike when he could. Chris stayed true to his word and came in to see me two weeks later, with the cash, and I couldn’t have been happier. The bike looked awesome and ran great and it couldn’t have gone to a better person. One fun thing about writing this article is getting to talk to people that read it. My-self nor Josh is a writer and we don’t pretend to be. But every time we get a phone or an email, I get excited; not because I feel like a “star” or something like that. But because I like hear people read what we write. We never really get any feedback so it’s nice to know some people like it. One guy that called us made leather wallets. He said his name was Billy and he was Fogman Leather! He made Josh and I some Killer Wallets and I got a cool koozie for some cold soda pops! Billy really hooked us up and we love them man!!!! Killer work!!!