What to do on your 50th Birthday...Drive 400 plus miles for motorcycle parts!

Jerry and I pose with the Servi-Car tanks...

Great tanks and dash! 

With the entire wiring harness hanging off it!

Springer and brake...

Frame...untouched

Stuff..

Rebuilt motor...

Trans...

Can't get enough of those tanks!

17,000 miles

The last time it was on the road...1965

Rear and stuff...

Spares...

Home and beginning assembly...

Now the wheel...

Headlight and handlebars...

Nitro tester...

What do you do on your 50th Birthday? Surprise party? Out to dinner? Vacation? Hell No!...you grab your girl, drive 400 miles and buy a trike from your old pal (and Hillclimber) Jerry Franz...what else?
Now if you follow this blog you'll remember that Jerry is a Hillclimber and the son of Larry Franz Sr. who was a National Champion Hillclimber from the 30's through the 80's. Back in 2011 Jerry sold me his dad's last H-D Hillclimb bike and all the parts and memorabilia...
Earlier this year Jerry told me that he wanted to sell me his 1953 Servi-Car basket case. I thought about it for a while and then finally said, sure... why not? I actually thought this was a project he'd gotten into within the last 10 years...I was wrong.
It turns out Jerry bought this trike from another Hillclimber, Paul Zalac, back in 1967 when he got outta the service. Jerry disassembled the trike because he had limited space to store it. He had the motor rebuilt by the guy who rebuilt his dad's hillclimb engines and never finished putting it together...fast forward 46 years...Jerry hands off the project to me. Unfortunately the box and fenders were tossed out, due to condition, back in the late 60's...I said "Jerry, how bad could they be? The trike was only 14 years old when you got it!" He said they were rotted...oh well.
Anyway, after driving 400 plus miles...we got to Jerry's place and surveyed all the goods. Kelly, Jerry and I packed up the van and Jerry's wife Diane made us a great dinner. I sat up til about midnight looking through old photo albums and listening to Jerry tell old Hillclimb stories...I could have done that all night but we decided to call it quits after about 6 hours. The next morning Jerry, Diane, Kelly and I went out to breakfast. After saying our goodbyes, Kelly and I headed out to South East Harley (see previous post) to see Larry Sr.s OHV Hillclimber that hangs from the ceiling.
I couldn't wait to get home and tear into the parts! You see, along with the trike, there were extra parts and the rest of Larry Sr.'s Hillclimb stuff...like his Nitromethane tester and boxes of other goodies...
What a great way to spend a 50th birthday!