When I was looking for someone to restore the 1953 HARLEY K MODEL motorcycle I rode when I was 18, my first stop was to my friends at the Salt Lake HARLEY dealer. They had been a huge help with the video I made a few years ago about my grandfather Elmer Carling who rode a 30’s HARLEY with a side car as one of the first members of the UTAH HIGHWAY PATROL.
To my surprise, I found they said they didn’t work on anything 10 years old or older. The nice guy at the service desk recommended I stop by DIRTY RAT MOTOCYCO, which was only a couple of blocks away.
To my surprise, behind the “out there” name, the owner and staff were very much customer oriented, and most of all, very competent and knowledgeable about bikes 50 years old and older. I knew I’d found a home where my old bike could come back to life.
Which years interchange, what fits what, who makes it, where to find it, and how to make it all fit together is specialized knowledge that takes years to accumulate. If you are a guy like me, who wants to modernize the machine while we’re at it–front disc brake, 12 VOLT alternator instead of a generator, electronic ignition (no more points and condensers) a modern carburetor, larger chrome wheels with stainless spokes, hydraulic shocks that actually work, etc. etc.–the task gets even more difficult.
A virtual fruit salad of parts old and new that all work together to create a machine that looks old, but is actually very modern. So far, it’s exactly what I wanted. Even the dogs seem happy!
My son, Mike, is a natural at painting. He painted the inside and outside of all the custom homes we built together. I don’t know where he gets it from, but when he was about 14, he asked the guy who was painting the living room of the house we were building if he could try the spray gun. At the first stroke, the painter exclaimed, “He’s a natural!” And so he is, which is handy because I hate painting.
The bike wore CANDY APPLE TANGERINE paint back in the day. Candy paint was invented in the 60’s by Joe Bailon of Bailon Custom Cars, located conveniently just down the road from where I went to high school.
The theory is, you first lay down a reflective metallic underbase–gold or silver is the most common–then you apply the color coat, in this case tangerine orange which has lots of clear added to it so the light will pass through it instead of just bouncing off. The light is then reflected back by the underbase after it has picked up some silver or gold tint, in our case gold. It then comes back through the color coat again, picking up more color, and then through a generous coat of clear that you have applied over the whole thing. That’s what produces the “elbow deep” look of candy apple!
When we brought the gas tank, fenders, and other parts back to the DIRTY RAT shop, everyone was amazed at how great they looked.
Well, the old “K” is together again, after more than 50 years scattered around by brother-in-law’s garage floor. It looks and sounds great, but now I’m too damn old and creaky to ride it!
What will I do with it? Current plans have it sitting in the living room of Mike’s condo as an “object d’art” …. but we’ll see what springtime brings. The local HARLEY dealer has several organized tours, so maybe Mike will drive and I can ride on the back!
I’m sure the K will be a big hit with all the HARLEY faithful. Most have never even heard of a K, must less seen one. Could be fun.