Richard, No tellin' man; with any luck, maybe he'll chime in and make a friend. Seems like a good ol' guy that's been around. Sadly, I don't spend time over there on the Jockey Journal, so I'm glad of you spreading the word about the shop. Keeping this one updated is all I have time for, so I just give when I can. On any more questions or comments, by all means, feel free. Again, it helps me to know what you all want to see so I don't just post at random. Have a good one everyone, and stay cool.
Just ran across these. Figured I wouldn't leave you empty handed - the late blue paint-job in progress. Again, have a good one friends. The red bike on the lower right was called The Widowmaker. That's what that blurry sign is supposed to read. It's one of my favorites, but I haven't been able to find any other shots of it, yet.. The frame and tank are all molded together, and it's hammered - I always dug the low slim look to it. <script src="http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"></script><fb:like-box href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wild-Childs/130345530376900?ref=ts#%21/pages/Wild-Childs/130345530376900?sk=info" width="292" show_faces="false" stream="false" header="true"></fb:like-box>
Thanks to a friend <script src="http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"></script><fb:like-box href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wild-Childs/130345530376900?ref=ts#%21/pages/Wild-Childs/130345530376900?sk=info" width="292" show_faces="false" stream="false" header="true"></fb:like-box>
Man I dig this photo and the series of the trike getting painted. Look how big the crowd is in the background! You asked what kind of photos people would be interested in seeing, well I for one, would love to see more indoor car show photos. Also the real early pics that you used to have up on your old thread. Keep em coming whenever you have time! -Aaron
This is way too cool. I believe this Widowmaker bike that you are referring to is a bike I currently own and restored a few years ago. I purchased the bike from Engle Motors in Kansas City in 2009. I would really like to see more pictures of the bike mentioned above if you have any. If not, I would really like to see the picture that you posted in person. On a separate note, I have a bunch of 60s car show pictures also that my dad took. Cool stuff of Ray Farner and Ed Roth. I will post them soon.
Small world man... Crazy. Dude that owned that bike was called "Joe Chop"; his real name was Roger Fisher. Him and a bunch of bikers used to have a house; all their girlfriends were strippers, so it was always packed with strippers. Back in the day by the hotels downtown, across from municipal auditorium, used to be where the strip clubs were at. They used to ride up there deep with bikes at night to pick up these girls. You'd always see those bikes down there. He was into drag-bikes. Seems like yours had a bigger rear tire and drag dumps, but I can't remember what used to be on your front end there though.. He had a full Harley drag-rail that was built too with some body panels; it used to hang from the ceiling in Doug's Choppers before he was locked up. A lot of guys might remember him. I hear he checked out a few years back though. This round of pictures has been packed up, since scanning for the shop rebuild, but if I find some more I'll make sure and set 'em aside for you brother. Let me know when you post some of that stuff, I'd be real curious to see what you have. A lot of our shots are water damaged, so you might have some missing links there. Lookin' good friend! Don't be a stranger!
The crowds are crazy right? Farhner was one hell of a promoter.. We're all lucky to have had him. Those were the days of hard work. Can-do friend; I'll see what I can gather up for you when I dig in this weekend. I know I have a bunch of both. I need to get a scanner for slides though man.. Wait till we get those rolling; talk about show coverage... There were drawers and drawers of 'em.
This just keeps getting better. I was drooling over that bike a couple of years ago at the World of Wheels. That little Trumpet is a thing of beauty! Hey grim, at which facility were those show shots taken?
Can't you just picture that thing all rowdy with a hundred bikers down in the old red-light district? Dumps barkin' on drag slicks... I'm thinking that old shot of The Widowmaker was from Municipal Auditorium here in Kansas City. Not 100% sure though. Pretty sure there was a venue in St. Louis that looked similar inside.
Damn, this is a great thread. Makes me think--I know where there's a trike, etc., etc. Keep it going!
you have a way with words. this thread is great history lesson and im glad you are getting it down for all to read. i really dig the trike, i have a bad left leg so i can no longer ride bikes ( leg gives out from time to time just walking.. so i have this vision of falling over at a stop sign.. with cute chicks to the side of me and busting up laughing.. so not hipp. laughs ).. so the trike appeals to me and the widow maker.. that bike is sweet.. wish more bikes were built like that.. compared to the trend in choppers right now.. but what was once old will be new again in a generation or three. heh. you mention the story behind the letters R.F you never got to that. could you go into that please would really be interested.. unless i miss understood what you ment by that. also D. hope your neck is healing.. keep that brace tight.. doctor will approve. cheers. chris. p.s how cool is it to have a check from the crazy man him self. lol we all wanted to be him when we were 5 on our big wheels. varoom.
This is off-topic, but hell yeah: we all wanted to be Evel Knievel. I know I did--and I had the Sears version of the Big Wheel, which is to say: NOT a Big Wheel. Evel rules it. And I have a Wild Child-related question: wouldn't that blue trike go over backwards if you pulled a wheelie? Or was the chassis long enough to put the kibosh on that sort of problem? I want one of those so bad right now!
Scheduled Programming Interruption Just a quick note friends.. For those of you out there in HAMBland following our building construction progress - Episode 2: Out of the Box is now up on The Garage Journal. Beginning on page two (Post #27) - Enjoy Everybody! http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=105339 Wild Child's will be updating soon. <script src="http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"></script><fb:like-box href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wild-Childs/130345530376900?ref=ts#%21/pages/Wild-Childs/130345530376900?sk=info" width="292" show_faces="false" stream="false" header="true"></fb:like-box>
EPISODE 7: School's Out (Part I/II) Businesses were owned by men. Teenagers went to school. Pop was told he wasn't allowed in school. He was 13... The kid was screaming as Pop hung him over the edge of the railing; it was three stories to the ground. Everyone was screaming... Pop was never the kind of kid that would start a fight. He kept to himself. He's always had a quiet confidence to him, and the truth is I think that's what made him a target. Society loves to see the man who can muster up his strength, in the face of all adversity and hopelessness, and really try. Trying, failing, and having the strength and heart to keep on trying - that's the highest measure of a man; that's what everyone loves - but god help the man who can succeed... His accomplishment is the lowest of insults. That man has to be buried, and then his accomplishments emulated, diffused throughout society, and sold as the success of everyone. Humans always seem to have some kind of primitive way of recognizing that man. Maybe it's the clear look in his eyes. Maybe it's the calm precision to his steps. That kind of man doesn't have to start a fight; it's waiting here for him to be born. (Part II - continued below) <script src="http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"></script><fb:like-box href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wild-Childs/130345530376900?ref=ts#%21/pages/Wild-Childs/130345530376900?sk=info" width="292" show_faces="false" stream="false" header="true"></fb:like-box>
EPISODE 7: School's Out (Part II/II) Earlier in the day, this kid, suspended beyond the railing, was that kind of person that looked for guys like Pop, and practiced on everyone... Everyday, this kid would lock his eyes on Pop; one after another, he'd push kids into lockers while progressing in his direction. Everyday the teachers saw this. Everyday the students saw this, and much more. No one said word; their silence was their consent. Pop didn't avoid the kid, but if he was already done gathering his books he'd go ahead and head into class. Pop was never the type to take time and wait. That kind of choice had been made long before this kid ever came along. It would only be a matter of time before they would meet. No one said a word - until the day finally came that Pop wasn't finished in the hallway.. Were there unconscious decisions, about himself, made earlier - or did something happen, in that instant, just before the kid approached, that lasted Pop a lifetime? Pop could have rushed and made it to class, but that wasn't an option. Everything was on auto-pilot. As this kid pulled his arm back, Pop looked over at a friend. The consenting eyes said "no", to what Pop was about to do, but I don't think there was any reasoning, short of personal redefinition, that could have made that "no" come true. They locked eyes as the boy violently threw his body-weight into a fist; as the boy's arm extended, Pop seized his wrist; with the momentum, it didn't take much to pull him a few extra feet. There was a railing near by - 3 stories to ground level. Pop still held his wrist and eye contact as he threw the boy over. Everyone was screaming... People finally had something to say. "Don't drop him!" Pop had him there by the wrist, with their eyes still locked, when the kid apologized for what he was. After Pop pulled him back over the rail, he was never allowed in school again. It wasn't because of that kid. It wasn't because of the teachers not speaking up soon enough. It wasn't about the consent of the other students. It was a decision that only he could own. It was a series of events stemming from choices about who he was and what he would concede to. I remember that locked look in his eyes when he worked - when he tried until he succeeded. To understand tough decisions and willing sacrifices is to understand some of the most important parts about a man's mind, and to understand how far he's willing to go for himself. That last part can impact so many more things than many of us take the time to realize. From that point forward, when everyone else was in school, Pop was alone in an alley... Pop started in an alley - and succeeded. It wasn't too long after that, men began to assume Pop was much older than he appeared to be. Men owned businesses, and only men spoke the way he did to other men - and so Pop must have been a man.. Though many things about us are rooted in fortune, choices we make determine so much. For some of us, our most important choices are made only once. What follows these principles, about what we are and what we want to be, guide actions, no matter how consciously dangerous or consequential, for the rest of our lives. These are the kinds of choices men and women make years earlier that today can make them sacrifice themselves, or someone else, for something in an unforeseen instant. When I think back through Pop's life and wonder about those premisses, to understand him, I find myself at a railing - calmly looking three stories down - waiting. I find that not everyone gets what this story is all about without lengthy explanations, but over time I've come to realize that this one's not for everyone. Enjoy friends... I think it is for many of you. <script src="http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"></script><fb:like-box href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wild-Childs/130345530376900?ref=ts#%21/pages/Wild-Childs/130345530376900?sk=info" width="292" show_faces="false" stream="false" header="true"></fb:like-box>
Justin I have just spent 4 hours reading every post of this and love it. I think the future is going to be fun for us and you know if you ever need anything you can call me. Glad to have another car lover in the family. Keep the awsome stories coming and we will make our own stories in the future. Jeremy
grim this has been a COOL thread that I just started reading. I have yet to make it all the way through but I had to post this up in hopes that you might have a response by the time I get to the end. do you have ANY more info on this coupster?? the pic is very grainy but it looks very similar to a 32 five window I own that lost it's top way back when. this car came from the mid-atlantic states. edit: My avatar is the car now. when I got it it was heavily channeled, no windshield posts, tacked shut doors and lots of snap holes around the cockpit where the interior would have snapped over the top like this car.
revkev6, I'm not too sure on the details on that car. I'll have to ask around and see what I can find out. If I get anywhere, I'll post up what I find. With old hotrods, it's a small world man; you may own it!
Doug, You're invited anytime brother; I'd be cool for you to see the place before we start getting things back together. Thanks for that picture! I can't believe the Roman Chariot's still around.. For everyone who's never seen it, when you hit the brakes, the bikes on the front pull wheelies . Real good to hear about Doug's place still being there too. I'll have to see if I can get some pictures of that drag rail. (Give Pop a knock )
I'd sure appreciate it! other details it had when I got it were, flat firewall, chromed master cylinder on the firewall with swing pedals. and a fiber-glassed in plywood floor that looked like it might have been bolted to an A chassis. how's the shop resto coming?? how bad is that roof really??? it looks pretty punky in those pics!
No problem man, I'll see what I can do. That new info should help some. I should have a big update real soon - maybe two weeks? We might lose a week to go race at Bonneville though . We'll likely be posting up pictures of the inside at that time. It's weird; with the building, you can work for days and days and not see any progress. Then, in half a day, of hardly any effort, it looks like you did two months of work. It's crazy..
EPISODE 8: Show Time! (Part I/V) It's the 60s! Hop in! We're goin' to a show... Hop in back.. In the middle... (Aaron - you out there tonight buddy? This one is for you.) Alright... You sure you're in tonight?!.... OKAY!!! Let's Roll!!! (Part II - continued below) <script src="http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"></script><fb:like-box href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wild-Childs/130345530376900?ref=ts#%21/pages/Wild-Childs/130345530376900?sk=info" width="292" show_faces="false" stream="false" header="true"></fb:like-box>
EPISODE 8: Show Time! (Part II/V) (Part III - continued below) <script src="http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"></script><fb:like-box href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wild-Childs/130345530376900?ref=ts#%21/pages/Wild-Childs/130345530376900?sk=info" width="292" show_faces="false" stream="false" header="true"></fb:like-box>
EPISODE 8: Show Time! (Part III/V) (Part IV - continued below) <script src="http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"></script><fb:like-box href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wild-Childs/130345530376900?ref=ts#%21/pages/Wild-Childs/130345530376900?sk=info" width="292" show_faces="false" stream="false" header="true"></fb:like-box>
The Jalopy Journal
