Uncle Al

The Man!

My 39 WLD laying next to a Chief carcass, Schmidt's shifter and all!

OK I put all the pics together so you don't have to hunt around.

The man was in the motorcycle business for decades. He acquired more motorcycles then you can count. Rumor has it he stored bikes for guys that went off to war and most did not return or couldn't afford or care to get the bikes back. He had them stored in an old cement factory in PA. The place was truly amazing!!

Folks that new him said he would not sell anything. He lived like a hermit in school buses and an old Air Stream trailer on the property. Old mangy dogs were everywhere. Older guys told us about it and unfortunately by the time I got there everything had already been sold at auction for back taxes years before. But in a place where so many bikes had been for so many years there was still stuff everywhere... emblems, motor parts, frame pieces, battery boxes, brake drums, head lights, hell there was even a 49 Pan lower end half buried in the ground. There were parts in the woods, in the trunks of old cars, under mattresses, in the basement, in the boiler, in every nook and cranny of that place.

Back in the early 80's I bought a 39 WLD from a guy who got a lot of the stuff at the auction. To my surprise it is in one of these pictures from 1968 laying with other cannibalized carcasses in the cement factory (see above).

There was another auction of this stuff in the mid 80's. A Honda dealer that got a bunch of the stuff decided to auction it off. What deals were had! Indian Chiefs for $1200.00. Parts galore! I missed that auction because, having gone back to college (better late then never), I had a final exam that day. I decided to forgo the auction and take the exam. In retrospect that was one of my true regrets in life! What was I thinking!!!!

Enjoy these pictures. Hopefully I posted them right and you can click on 'em and zero in on all the treasure.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!