FIRE TRUCK!!!

@Marty Grzynkowicz posted:

Cool stuff, my client built one of those Indian motorcycles for a friend of his. Let me see if I can get a picture. It was very cool.

Here it is:

That looks like Pat Dolan’s work, aka Sportsman Flyer. I wonder if he is still in business, as his website hasn’t had an update in 10 years.

I recently fabricated the parts for the center stand/footrest for a 1936 Simplex, as someone had converted it in the past, and not it a good way. I also made the parts that weld to the frame, as they were also long gone. I told the guy to get a local to weld the parts on to the frame, but I think he is leaning towards just sending me the frame.  The current owner is also trying to find an original engine to bring it back to the way it left the factory.

This 1939 Simplex sits in my living room, and the center stand is the same as the 1936 model. I restored this one a few years ago.

I sent Pat an email asking that very thing, @LI-Rick. The prices that seemed very high 10 years ago, look fabulous now. I wonder if he's still a thing.

Update: He replied. He's still selling parts, but not building turnkey bikes anymore.

Those are pretty neat. I have an original 1950 Schwinn Whizzer stored away, and a 1917 Indian that is a running piece of history. I’ve been thinking about putting it on display in the living room as well

I also build things to remind me of my youth

I'm beginning together parts to build this Bobber for Summer riding and a few car & bike shows. .....

Update: I had a look at mine and it is NOT the same as the auction truck. Mine was actually more deluxe—it had some sort of shifter/engine noise maker (or maybe it was a siren?)

The "Thunder Rod" feature was a rare option, apparently.

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I think the Buick dealer that sold my dad his '52 Special Coupe tried to upsell him on this very same 'Thunder Rod' option.

It was supposed to increase fuel economy and came bundled with the undercoating.

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OK, I couldn't help myself.

I had to track down the Thunder Rod on the Google.

It was apparently an engine sound simulator. So, BMW wasn't the first, after all. There was supposedly a battery box that contained two D-cells and some kind of noise making thing. The cool thing (OK, to me, at least) was that the lever controlled a sliding contact potentiometer that supposedly controlled the volume of the, uh, 'Thunder'.

This just looks way cooler and was probably more convincing than the copies of it that BMW eventually came up with.

More about it here.

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