The Rockabilly Luau was a Blast...

Even though we got rained out before some of the good stuff happened. I saw a couple of songs from a band I didn't get the name of and got to see the entire set from the Psycho Devilles. They even did their last couple of songs in the rain. That's hardcore when your instruments are made of wood. It sucks that the rain cut off the rest of the show, but it was still a good time and I got to see the small car show and a few bikes that were ridden in. I hope they do something like this again. I'd love to go back to Atlanta for more.

Sweet Shovelhead sitting outside.

Another view, this bike was pretty damn original and looked like it was ready to ride a million miles.

One of the MC's for the show. She was done up right!

Crazy sportbike/Frankenstein with a hand shifter. Pretty wild, but it was ridden in and THAT is always a bonus. Can't say this one is cookie cutter, that's for damn sure.

The other side, dig the extended swingarm and custom made rear section and exhaust.

Hairbraine's chopped Softail. Check out his pinup work!



A few shots of the Psycho Devilles. They put on a great show and I can't wait to see them again.

Hot Rod Walt standing on "Stubbs" Diffin's Bass.

Singin' in the rain!

Steve "Burnout" Barnett still pounding the skins even with the liquid sunshine.

I told you they were HOT!!



I'll post some more pics later from this one. There were some damn nice cars and a few folks worth showing to ya.

Headed To Atlanta For The Roackabilly Luau. But Here's A Blown Hemi 280Z For You

The Wife is taking me to Atlanta for the Rockabilly Luau today, we're going to spend the night over there and then come back tomorrow. Should be a good time and hopefully I'll run into some of the great folks from Atlanta. I should find some cool stuff to get pics of, but you never know till you get there. In the meantime here are some pics of a 280Z I saw in a parking lot one day last week. The owner was going to send me some info, but I haven't gotten it yet. I DO know that it is an original 1957 Hemi block in this beast and the car seems well built. Enjoy the view and I'll catch ya later.....

BAD ASS Motor!!!

Looking Wild!

The beast is even still street registered!

Loading Bikes For A Road Trip

It's that time of year when we load up our bikes and take off for days at a time. Some folks are old hands at this and some are doing it for the first time. I thought it would be cool to take pics of everyone's bike before we all left for the BMR (yes, I still have a ton of pics that I haven't posted from that trip). I picked the ones that I thought showed a good cross section of various packing styles. Check em out and get your own bike loaded up and go somewhere!

Spenser's bike was packed pretty lightly, but then again he cheated. His girlfriend was going with us and some of his stuff was tossed in her car. But then again, we all ended up with stuff in Holly's car before it was all over .

A.J. from Mississippi divided his stuff between the fender and handlebars. He did end up with almost all of it on the back before it was all over. His seat is low enough that stuff on the bars ended up blocking his view.

Ross, built this bad ass rack for his bike and he ended up with his and most of Bill's (see yesterdays post) stuff on his bike. I think we could have ALL piled our stuff on there, the rack was THAT damn good.

Ed actually packed a day or so ahead of time and road tested his stuff before the trip. Ed is the Bungee Master. Give him a few bungees and not only will your stuff be strapped on and secure, but it will be a work of art as well (see next pic).

See what I mean???? Not just simple hooks and bungees, but a true work of art.

Ian went pretty simple with his, it did end up as a nice backrest for him though.

This is how Larry started out on Dixie Wrecked. It was an OK job, but at our first stop Ed helped Larry repack it all and it became a work of art!

And finally, we have my bike loaded and ready. I took this pic before I left the house to meet everyone. With my stuff packed like this it was a perfect backrest and that combined with the ape hangers and heel rests on my pegs made for a VERY comfortable ride. I ended up not even squirming at all, even after a few hours of riding. If your bike is loaded right and your bars, seat and pegs are all in the right spots you can ride all day and still function when you get there.

Now get your ass out there and go somewhere!

My Buddy Bill Won Best Metric At BMR....

At the BMR they had a Chopper show and some of our guys entered it. Good thing too, because some of them won! Bill entered his XS650 and won Best Metric. Gotta love it when a bike is ridden a few hundred miles to a party and then proceeds to win a prize in the show. THAT'S when you know its the right kind of event. Enjoy the pics!

You can see the custom handlebars, taillights and the aluminum ribbed rear fender.I believe that might even be an original Wassel fender. I love the total lack of bright colors until you get to that tank. It REALLY jumps out and grabs your attention.

On this side you get a good look at the custom pipes. This bike has got a really nice tone and will get up and sing to you when the throttle is twisted.

The black powder coated rims helps keep the bike looking nice and compact

On the way back home Bill took a picture of me taking a picture of him. I got this one of him....

and he got this one of me :-) We had a great ride and I can't wait to go again. Having the right people along makes it all good.

Bikes From Friends No Longer With Us.....

Found these pics of bikes that belonged to a couple of my Brothers who are no longer among us. They're quite a few years old, but kick ass bikes none the less. Check em out and enjoy. Hopefully I'll get over this melancholy mood and get some more bad ass pics posted.

JD's Sportster. (John "JD" Foster) JD was a damn good friend for many years. We rode together, laughed together and did a few other things I shouldn't mention till the statute of limitations runs out. That's an earlier version of my Triumph in the background. We rode everywhere together and always managed to have a damn good time.

One of the many bikes JD built while I knew him. Unfortunately a crash took him away from us a couple of years ago. Ride On Brother!

Yep, we both liked blue.

Another good Brother was Blaine Smith. He was always wheeling and dealing to pick up some cool stuff. Blaine was a big help in getting the Triumph back on track, he didn't get to see the latest version, but I still have the pieces he made for me on the bike. He is the man who made the rack on the rear fender, as well as the one who helped me get upswept fishtails on my old Shadow ACE 750. This bike was a Triumph chopper that was built, painted, but never had an engine installed back in the 70's or early 80's. Blaine got it off ebay, put his motor in it and proceeded to terrorize the town. He eventually sold it because he was afraid he would be the one to screw it  up and he didn't want to be that guy.

Blaine was taken from us by a heart attack a few years ago and he is greatly missed by those of us who knew him.

Dig the cool paint on the rear fender of the Triumph.

This is the neck area of the bike. Now you see why he didn't want to be the one to screw it up. Rest In Peace Brother. We'll ride together again one day.

OK, tomorrow I will post something, cool, bad ass or at least not so depressing!

We've lost a National Treasure.....

Photo courtesy of Joey Kendrick

Those were the words of Don Brooks founder of the Liberty Foundation and owner of the Liberty Belle B-17. B-17G 44-85734 crash landed and burned to the ground yesterday (June 13, 2011) while on a tour of the U.S. giving air rides. The aircraft had experienced a few mechanical problems Sunday and had to cancel the rides for that day. The crew made repairs and the plane was on its way to Indiana for the next stop in the tour. For some reason the #2 engine caught fire and the pilots were forced to land in a field where this beautiful aircraft burned to the ground after everyone escaped.

Photo copyright Marianne Mather~Sun-Times Med

The day I flew with her I was sitting where the front edge of the fire is in this picture.

This aircraft never saw combat in WWII, but it still had a very unique history. It rolled off the assembly line on May 14, 1945 and pretty much went straight into storage. In 1947 it was sold as scrap, but before it could be cut up the Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Div of United Aircraft Corp made arrangements to purchase two B-17s for $5,400 each. The other aircraft P&W bought was used as spares and was finally scrapped in the late 1950s. B-17 734 was flown to the Boeing factory in Seattle, WA to be modified as an engine test bed. Basically the nose was modified as a 5th engine mount to test new engines. To make this work, Boeing had to move the entire cockpit section four feet aft to make room for the mods and to better balance the aircraft. The reason this aircraft was used this way was so that an engine could be flight tested without worrying about the aircraft crashing during the testing. The B-17 took off normally and then once in flight the test engine was started and the four regular engines shut off. If there was a problem they simply restarted the four main engines and landed the plane. The engines tested on the this plane were mostly the new turbo-prop engines being designed including the engines eventually used on the Douglas C-133 Cargomaster.

Photo scanned from "Final Cut - The Post-War B-17 Flying Fortress and Survivors.

In 1967 the airplane was donated to the Connecticut Aeronautical Historic Association in East Hartford Ct. The plane was displayed outdoors and continued to decay until Oct. 1979 when a tornado hit the museum. Twenty three aircraft were destroyed and forty were damaged. An SA-16A Albatross was lifted and tossed 600 feet to land inverted on 734's midsection. Of course the small museum had no money to try and repair the B-17. In 1988 the museum reorganized and the remains of the plane were traded to Tom Reilly in Kissimmee, FL in exchange for restoration work he did on a B-25H for the museum.

Photos scanned from "Final Cut - The Post-War B-17 Flying Fortress and Survivors.

Tom took on the restoration of this aircraft even though it was a daunting task. The mid section of the ariframe was broken, the aircraft had sat outside for twenty plus years, the cockpit had to be moved back to its original location and a nose section had to be built to replace the one removed by Boeing for the engine test mounts. It took over nine years to restore the aircraft, but it was brought back to flying condition and was eventually bought by Don Brooks in 2003.

Don bought the airplane to honor his Father Elton Brooks, an Eighth Air Force Tailgunner, as well as the thousands of other men who fought the the daylight air war over Europe between 1942 and 1945. Don eventually formed the Liberty Foundation to operate the Bomber and get it back in the air. On December 8, 2004 B-17G  44-85734 took to the skies again.  The plane was painted and marked as the 390th Bomb Group's Liberty Belle (B-17G 42-97849) a bomber that Brooks father crewed during the war. In 2005 the airplane started touring the US offering flights to those who loved these planes so much. In 2008 the Liberty Belle crossed the Atlantic to participate at some British airshows and events. It arrived in Duxford on July 4th as was appropriate for a plane named Liberty Belle. The aircraft made it back to the US in late July and has since then been touring the country giving rides to enthusiastic fans.

Later in 2008 I was one of those fans who got to ride in this beautiful aircraft and I'll never forget it. I can't describe the feeling of those 4 radial engines rumbling, the wind whipping past the open window in the radio compartment, sitting in the bombardier's seat, holding the waist guns....well you get the feeling. As Mr. Brooks said, we lost a National Treasure and I feel like I lost a friend. Rest In Peace Ms. Belle, you will be missed.

Some of the pictures I took the day I got to fly.

Strapped in and ready to fly

Looking out the bombardier's view.

Out the left windows.

Sitting In All Her Glory!

The information used to write this article was found in the book "Final Cut - The Post-War B-17 Flying Fortress and Survivors". This is a great book to find out about all the surviving B-17s and where to see them.

Previous Blog Posts about the Liberty Belle.

News article about the crash

More Fun From A Rainy Saturday

These are the last of the pics from Saturday. After this it's back to BMR or vintage pics for a few days. When I say vintage I mean my old pics form the 80-90's, not the really cool stuff from the 60-70's. Hope ya like this stuff and if not, check back, I'll find something cool to post sooner or later

Moon tackling a stripped bolt in his primary. He's lucky, this was his Dad's bike and was put together back in the 80's so it hasn't been boogered up by cheap bastards for the last 20 years. If something doesn't seem right he can check with his Dad to see if it's been screwed with before. Most of us old Ironhead owners are not that lucky.

Digging into the guts of the beast.

Yep, it was raining outside so the goofyness commenced! The owner of this bike added a clip on FL type fairing with a radio and speakers, She brought it into GarCo to have the guys do the work and get it painted for her. As we all know if it's on the shop floor it is open for mayhem. In this case Ian and Ross decided to show us how much they love to ride together. It appears that Ross does have the holding on technique nailed down and is secure in his position.

The boys up close. Can't you see the love/lust in their eyes?

 I DID get a little work accomplished on my Sporty project at least. Ross helped me get the spacers I needed machined . NOW, I can work on getting the rear fender mounted and figuring out what I want the sissy bar to look like. This shows the brake side. I'm using the stock rear caliper and mount. I just need to decide what I'll use to take up the slack left over by using this on a round frame tube instead of the big square of the stock swing arm.

 I think I'm going to use the stock mid control foot pegs as a kind of reverse highway peg set up. I have arthritis in my hips (from my old Army days) and can't ride with mids for long, but it gives me a spot to shift my feet around when I get on the open road.

The sprocket side is spaced now as well.


Tune in tomorrow, same bat-time, same bat-blog!

It Rained Saturday and Messed Up My Plans....

I had planned to hang out at GarCo for a little bit, then go back over to Conte Kustoms to get some better shots of their bikes. I only made it to GarCo before the rain came crashing down. I ended up hanging out there until after 5 waiting for the roads to dry enough to ride home. I didn't take my rain gear since it was only a 30% chance of rain and around here that just means its daytime in the summer for Alabama. I managed to get a few pics so I'll share what I have...

Spenser working on a friend/customer's bike. He did a LOT of the work, but got the GarCo guys to handle the stuff he didn't have tools or experience for. In this shot Stewy is shortening the handlebars they made.

Outside for a test ride around the parking lot.

Ok, we survived the trip around the lot, let's go down the road a little ways!

Coming back from the test ride. Everything was A-OK!

Larry working on the Chop Off bike for the Smoke Out.

I got a few more pics, but I'll save those. Don't want to spoil y'all!