Back in the day :

[crasha51pan]

38 years ago. My 1948 FL Panhead. For me, she started it all !
The wife got pregnant and she never rode with me again (said one of us needed to be alive for the kid, think she was refering to the fact that my sled had no front brake)

Happiest when we were in the mountains

[mungo]

That's sooo cool. I wish I had photos of me on my first bike when I was 16. But I never thought about taking pictures much until the last few years. That's one of my huge regrets in life. Not taking enough pictures.

[Harleymarlybone]

Haha. You even look like Peter Fonda.

[crasha51pan]

Thats funny ! I met "Wyatt" once on one of the "Love Rides", don't remember if it was #7 or #10. I will admit this, I was just back from Nam and released from the Marine Corp in 69. Easyrider had a hugh effect on me, I was lookin for something and after seeing that flic I knew what it was. Ridged Panheads were a part of my life for the next 32 years.......

[Harleymarlybone]

Cool pics.

[sam sam the mex]

thats cool i love to see old harley pics!!! got any more!!!

[Totenkopf]

crasha51pan,

those are great nostalgia pix!

they reminded me of all my friends back in the '68 - '70 timeframe with knucks & pans but especially my best friends bike which was a '69 XL based chop that had the same style and lines as yours, also with no front brake. He saved all his pay from Nam to buy that new sporty when he got back home, he then stripped it down, chopped it and reformed it into a custom over the winter.

Good memories! those were interesting times.

[crasha51pan]

The nights are gettin longer and the snow is gettin deeper. I pulled out that box of old pictures and all of the sudden a smile comes across my face (wife thinks I'm nuts)...

Some of these pics when taken at the time were considered "the ride from hell" cause of bad weather or maybe a run in with the law or things might have gotten out of hand in a bar. Funny, now I look at them and think "those were the days !!"..

[Huck Finn]

Originally Posted by Harleymarlybone

Haha. You even look like Peter Fonda.

Funny, I was thinking the same thing

How 'bout a 'now' picture

[crasha51pan]

My 48 is long gone. Instead of long, stretched and raked, I went short and fat with a big tank for milage (5 gal.). Bought myself a stock 51 (cause I love ridged pans) and built it my way..


Same bike, just painted it different colors...Had this bike for 22 years !

[2blackbelts]

Absolutely some great pics and a cool stroll down memory lane.

If I can figure out how to do it. I'll try and post my first Harley. It was a 1946, HD 45 that I bought out of a chicken coup for $45. We took pictures of it the day I brought it home. I was 13 at the time in 1966.

I also have pics of it when it was quite the radical bike for the day, chromed springer, orange flames on camaro green paint, stacks, sissy bar with graveyard fence emblem. Later on, I put an extended Triumph glide front end on it.

Still have the pictures, just not the bike.

2 bb

[crasha51pan]

Sounds very cool, would love to see it. I sold my 48 and used the money as a down payment on 20 acres in the Great Rocky Mountains of Montana. I needed to get out of the city, "a long way from the city. Gettin a little distance". It took about 2 minutes after my pan turned the corner at the end of the block (I never seen it again) to start to miss my ride. I had asked the guy if he rode before and he said yes. He went through all 4 gears in about 30 feet and still at idle speed, my bike was coughing and choking all the way down the street. I turned to walk back to the house and my wife was crying, sitting on the porch. She knew how hard it was for me to watch that. Took me 3 years to save up enought to buy the 51. It was a stocker (tank shift and foot clutch) and I tore her down the very day I got her home.

Then I started the rebuild.....