silverbear
The Boy Who Never Grew Up
Pile’aHarleys,
A friend and his wife of some thirty plus years stopped by the other day. I had sold Marshal a Lac LaCroix Indian Pony eighteen years ago and we were laughing at the recollection of how hard it was loading that colt onto the horse trailer. I’m not a real big guy at six feet, but Marshall was born big and kept getting bigger. Must be 6’6” or so and built for football or brawling. Worn out and exasperated, we finally picked that pony up and got him in that way. Ha! Good memories of good friends.
Marshal saw my American Flyer with canoe sidecar and was taken with it. Both he and his wife ride Harleys, so it was gratifying that they liked my pip squeak 99cc ride so much. I showed them the 34 Elgin and the Hiawatha tri-car and they seemed duly impressed. Marshal said, “I think I should give you my Harley Sprint. You might actually do something with it. I never did.” I said, “Yes, I think you should give me your Harley Sprint, for sure!”
So I took my jeep and bike trailer and followed him to his place. We loaded up four motorcycles, one with a complete engine, one missing the transmission cover and one barely there. Two were Sprints, one was something similar and the third was a bigger bike. All said they were Harleys, but three of the four were Italian made Amerchi Harley Davidsons. Sold by, but not made by HD.
Back in the 1960’s when the Japanese light motorcycle invasion began, Honda made a big splash and pretty well killed the import market from Britain and Germany and left Harley Davidson with it’s pants down. In a hurry, HD bought half of the stock in the Italian company. The Sprint had a 250cc four stroke with a four speed tranny which had some success in racing and by 1970 there was a 350cc introduced. I learned this stuff from Google.
It looks to me like one and possibly two sprints could be put together from the pile a bikes. Not to say that I will. Tomorrow I’ll take the bikes to my son’s and see if he’s interested in a project. If so then we’ll work on them together to see what we come up with. The one that interests me most is least there… the bigger one with the rounded gas tank which looks to me like a “real” Harley and has chopper lines. Looks like a money sinkhole to me.
Whatever their fate, it was nice of Marshal to give me the bikes and I’m sure I can use bits and pieces with my builds. I like those hidden throttle cables for one thing. No doubt other bits and pieces could find a home on ebay. Anybody have one of those Sprints? Anybody recognize that bigger bike?
SB
A friend and his wife of some thirty plus years stopped by the other day. I had sold Marshal a Lac LaCroix Indian Pony eighteen years ago and we were laughing at the recollection of how hard it was loading that colt onto the horse trailer. I’m not a real big guy at six feet, but Marshall was born big and kept getting bigger. Must be 6’6” or so and built for football or brawling. Worn out and exasperated, we finally picked that pony up and got him in that way. Ha! Good memories of good friends.
Marshal saw my American Flyer with canoe sidecar and was taken with it. Both he and his wife ride Harleys, so it was gratifying that they liked my pip squeak 99cc ride so much. I showed them the 34 Elgin and the Hiawatha tri-car and they seemed duly impressed. Marshal said, “I think I should give you my Harley Sprint. You might actually do something with it. I never did.” I said, “Yes, I think you should give me your Harley Sprint, for sure!”
So I took my jeep and bike trailer and followed him to his place. We loaded up four motorcycles, one with a complete engine, one missing the transmission cover and one barely there. Two were Sprints, one was something similar and the third was a bigger bike. All said they were Harleys, but three of the four were Italian made Amerchi Harley Davidsons. Sold by, but not made by HD.
Back in the 1960’s when the Japanese light motorcycle invasion began, Honda made a big splash and pretty well killed the import market from Britain and Germany and left Harley Davidson with it’s pants down. In a hurry, HD bought half of the stock in the Italian company. The Sprint had a 250cc four stroke with a four speed tranny which had some success in racing and by 1970 there was a 350cc introduced. I learned this stuff from Google.
It looks to me like one and possibly two sprints could be put together from the pile a bikes. Not to say that I will. Tomorrow I’ll take the bikes to my son’s and see if he’s interested in a project. If so then we’ll work on them together to see what we come up with. The one that interests me most is least there… the bigger one with the rounded gas tank which looks to me like a “real” Harley and has chopper lines. Looks like a money sinkhole to me.
Whatever their fate, it was nice of Marshal to give me the bikes and I’m sure I can use bits and pieces with my builds. I like those hidden throttle cables for one thing. No doubt other bits and pieces could find a home on ebay. Anybody have one of those Sprints? Anybody recognize that bigger bike?
SB
