Jason's VD

What can fit What

Twist some metal get some glue and LEDs = Tail light

A minor mod or two and your "Oil Frame" Triumph gas tank fits right on the old VD

Oops forgot...this thing needs an oil tank...let's see...where's my paint ball gun?

shovel trans and a belt

Seat? No comment

Jason's 36 VD is an exercise in what can fit what (with a torch and welder). This thing runs great and he rides it all over. I ran into Jason at the Chapter meeting the Sunday before last. He rode up on this beauty. All eyes were on it in the parking lot.

Yes that is a paint ball tank being used to supply oil to the lower end. Remember the VD is a total loss oil system. Jason buried a battery in the huge tunnel of the 70's Triumph "Oil Frame" gas tank and cut out some clearance for the spark plug access. He always has the most comfortable seating arrangements on his bikes. He said it was a little rough until he glued the rubber on it.
I cringed big time when I saw the home made ape hangers welded to a chrome Flander's tree...ouch!

I could have spent hours looking at this thing and asking Jason questions. Talk about hand building a bike out of parts! This is it!

New Jersey Sunday or Bring Out Your Wounded

Jason's Totally Sick 36 VD

Just Totally Sick (on a budget)

Amy's Triumph


"Bolt On" with his original Captain America Lid and one of only two Knucklehead Engines I ever sold...a 39 EL

Parking lot view (Partial)

On our way to the bar

Yeah this was my view. Trapped in a 47 sidecar with a fucked up hand!

What the hell...at least I got out on the road, and not in a car!

Sunday I attended a Colonial Chapter meeting (drink fest) in North Jersey. I still can't close my hand after being filleted by an old asshole in a car so Pauly offered up a side car ride.

Boy... there's a feeling of utter helplessness. Riding in that tin can at the mercy of anyone and anything! After a while it kinda felt like a carnival ride and I just went with it (tough for a control freak).

We got to the Pub and checked out the bikes and friends in the parking lot. Jason had built a totally sick 1936 VD and his girl Amy had her Triumph. I took some close ups of the VD (no joke that's a model designation and fits to a T) I will post them next. We hung out for a few hours.

The ride back to Pauly's place was a trip. Route 80 was closed and the State Troopers dumped the whole highway out onto the two lane that we had to take to get back. BUMPER TO BUMPER! Well of course the solo bikes did their thing and all disappeared. Me and Paul with the side hack was another story...17 miles and TWO HOURS later we got back to his place! I actually got out and walked up a hill or two. We were racing the sun too. The 47's genny is fucked so lights were not an option. It was dark when we pulled into his driveway.

All in all it was a good time.

Vargo Reunion

Here are some pictures from the Vargo Drag Strip Reunion (Bucks County PA). In operation from 1958 - 1969 this was the 40th aniversary of its closing. The place was a mob scene and they were turning people away at 10:30 AM due to the crowd. I think I already mentioned this in a previous post but I just got the pics uploaded.

Hot Rods to Hell!

Gas-s-s-s Pan

While I was getting my hand "nursed' on Monday I was checking out the free On Demand movies. They always have some weird old shit on there. I stumbled across a 1970 Roger Corman flick called Gas-s-s-s.

Plot:

The Military develops a nerve gas that ends up leaking out and killing everyone in the world over the age of 25. It's kinda like the Partridge Family meets Road Warrior with the occasional Roger Corman boobie shot.

Anyway I took these pics off my TV of this outrageously cool Yellow Pan. The mystical couple appears occasionally throughout the film dispensing knowledge to the misguided Hippies. Definitely the highlight of the film!

Another Flander's Benefit - Warning Graphic Content Below

Flander's give baby!

When my hand was being crushed and gashed opened between the A-Hole's car, my brake lever and the handle bars, the Flander's risers with their rubber mounts and various pivot points "gave".

I believe that if the bike had the stock ridged mounted bars that did not "give" I would have sustained much worse injuries then I did. Probably be missing some fingers.

So I simply twisted the risers back where they started. The bars are bent a bit also and I need a brake lever but it could have been worse.

Sorry to those that are squeamish...yes that's a hand.

Oh...and thanks to Doctor Frank N. Stein for sewing me up!

Now that's a KNUCKLE BUSTER!

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OUCH! That's gonna sting!

What a weekend!

STARTED GREAT!

ENDED BAD!

The weekend started great! Saturday was the Vargo Drag strip Reunion. The place was in operation from '58 to '69. It was the 40th anniversary of the closing. The old strip is still there on the old Vargo Farm. I headed up there Saturday morning. It was so crowded they were turning people away by 10:30 am! Two of my friends from Jersey couldn't get in driving a 57 pick up. I blasted through the gates and the crowd and parked right on the old drag strip on the 46 knuckle. I will post a story and pictures later.
After I got home my oldest kid got on the 57 Pan and impressed the shit outta me. He rode that thing like he'd been doing it for years. We took a ride up to the bar for a late lunch and then headed back down the road to the Vargo Drag strip Reunion to catch the tail end.
Trial by fire! The kid had to weave that ape hanger Panhead through hundreds of (very) expensive cars, people, wet grass, gravel, vendors etc. to follow me through there. At one point, as I slide between a trailer and a vendors table with only inches to spare, he yelled out "Why are we doing this!?". I yelled back "Why not!"
Well, he made it through and was out on the drag strip next to me. Fuckin' A! We hung out with some friends that had hot rods out there and rode back home before dark.
I had a great day and a great Saturday night to boot!

Then came Sunday...It started off really well. I spent the morning fixing a few odds and ends on the Pan. I woke Junior up at around noon (apparently he had a good Saturday night too!).
The weather was GREAT. 70 degrees in November in PA.
The kid's always hungry so we headed out for some lunch. After lunch I told him that we would take a ride around the Lake and then down along the Delaware River so he could get some quality riding time in. Second time ever on the Pan.

Well fate took over after that... at the last second I decided to make a right instead of a left and circle the lake in the other direction. We were cruising up the road, me in front, junior in back when I noticed that he was riding the shoulder. I pulled over and it took me a second to realize he had no glasses or helmet on (I don't wear a helmet but I make him wear one...do as I say not as I do). He explained that the helmet had blown off his head and took the glasses with it. I looked down the road and about a quarter mile back I could see the helmet on the shoulder.
I told junior to stay put and I would go get it. The road was clear and I rode back down. I decided to hang a left onto a side road just past where his helmet was laying. I signaled a left turn, slowed down and began to make the left when POW! A fuckin' car slams into my left side! Somehow I kept the knuckle upright bent bars and all and got over to the side road. That's when I noticed that my hand had been crushed between the bars the brake lever and the car.
It was UGLY, tendons exposed and gouged flesh! (You know it's bad when the Ambulance Crew can't look at it without groaning).
A guy in a pick up was at the corner and saw the whole thing happen right in front of him. He gave me an old towel to hold my hand together. The old guy that hit me was trying to pass me on the left while I was making a left turn!
From where I was laying in the grass I could see the old fool checking out the damage on the right side of his car. He was about 100 yards away on the main road. The Jack Off didn't even look over at me. He got back into his shit box and took off! I called junior on his cell and he ran down to the accident scene and immediately wanted to kill everyone and anyone. I had to calm him down and focus him on the task at hand...get the bikes home!
Well the cops came, I got loaded into the meat wagon and junior rode the pan home to get my van and collect the knuckle. A friend and his wife happened to be riding by on a 57 pan and a 1945 knuckle (believe it or not). They stayed with the bike and waited on junior to load it up.

The nurses at the Trauma Center were actually bringing their friends by my bed to look at the horrible gaping wounds in my hand. They would wince and quickly exit...made me feel even better.
The doctor eventually got me stitched back together and junior came and got me home.
What have I learned from this experience?
It is a bitch typing with one hand!

1957 Jersey Pan is back on the road

Got the 57 Pan done Monday. I had forgotten what a strong running, loud, solid bike this was. Been out on it the last couple of nights blasting around. The neighbors have already commented on the "noise factor"...they love it. Hell I only have one neighbor anyway and they are used to it.

My oldest kid is now bugging me to ride it. I'll let him "want it" a little more and then he can follow me up to the bar.