LATHAM — The motorcycles of our time feature gyroscopic steering, wet clutches, shaft drives, and any number of other technological niceties. But there was another era before all of that, where the machines might not have motors as mighty or features as safe, but they still had the essentials: Two wheels and the ability to make their rider feel really, really cool.
The engines and parts lying around Terry Williams’ shop evoke some of that feeling as he works toward the careful restoration of two bikes from the 1940s.
The Harley-Davidsons of the war years and the postwar boom had the classic, cruiserstyle look riders still like today. They weren’t too high off the ground and had gleaming pipes and sweeping fenders. The frame, the handlebars, the engines that are in the process of being cleaned, restored, and reassembled all hint at something less tangible.
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“They’re really basic,” Williams said of older bikes such as the two from 1940s. “The electrics are basic, the motors are basic. It’s hard to get good parts for them, but if you’ve been doing it for a long time you get a network for parts and, of course, there’s the Internet. If you spend the time, it’s out there. Somebody has got it.”
Williams is putting together a 1942 Harley-Davidson Flathead WLA that he is restoring to its original U.S. military specifications, possibly even with a scabbard for a Thompson machinegun strapped to the side of it as it would have had during World War II. The frame, the fenders and the gas tank will be cleaned and repainted to the original olive drab, Williams said.
“This is pretty much a faithful restoration,” Williams said. “The ’42 came in as a running bike. It was black and he came in and said ‘I want it to be a military bike.’ ”
At Terry’s Custom in Latham, Williams’ business, much of the work is to provide custom paint and other detailing. His own 1950s cruiser, while still titled as what it once was, has undergone drastic transformations.
“I still love doing the custom stuff like this, because you’ve got free rein. A whole bunch of this stuff,” he said, indicating the pipes and fenders of one of his end products, “was made right here, with hammers and torches.”
The other bike, a 1947 civilian version of the same model, might have been on any number of adventures before it ended up in a barn in Heyworth, in pieces. That was how Matt Ruble of Lincoln found it after answering a classified ad.
“The guy hadn’t looked at the bike for 30-plus years, took it all apart to restore and never did, so figured he’d give somebody else a shot,” Ruble said. “I found it completely apart: Two wheels on opposite sides of the building, a headlight here, a taillight there.”
Ruble, 25, is working his way through school, and is no stranger to restoring vintage bikes. He’s restored and ridden ’70s and ’80s bikes by Japanese manufacturers, but never taken on a 1940s Harley before.
“My goal for it is to make it look like it did the day it rolled off the line,” Ruble said. “I’ve always rode old bikes, bought them, rode them, sold them. I’ve never bought a new bike.”
Getting the ’47 back to its natural state is proving a challenge. Its speedometer was produced for only one year, the taillights for only two. Some parts will likely have to be reproductions, Ruble said.
“With the rarity, the price tag goes up,” Ruble said. “It’ll look like the original, but it won’t have the original patina on it. It’ll look right, but it’ll be brand new.”
Ruble said he can’t wait for it to be finished so the venerable machine can ride again.
“The day it’s done, I’m going to be out,” he said.
klowe@herald-review.com|421-7985
