Monday, February 9, 2009

Viva Las Vegas 2002

I was going thru some old picture envelopes, and found a bunch of pictures from VLV '02. I was supposed to meet ChopperDave there, but he had some type of illness or something - I can't remember, and didn't make it. His then-girlfriend did because she was vending, so I just hung out with her, Kutty, and John and Jenny Parker all weekend. I also got to meet Coop and Von Franco for the first time, and I enjoyed hanging out for awhile and talking with Von Franco in his booth as well.
John Parker's '46 Bonneville Chief, that he's had for fuckin' ever. He must have close to 95,000 miles on this bike now. The tips of those pruned trike mufflers are sharp, and they've caught more than one person in the hand casually walking by them, drawing blood. It was just in DicE! magazine a few issues ago.

John at one time worked in Bud Ekins' shop in the Valley, at the same time Von Dutch was there. He was also there when Dutch was drunk, took off all his clothes, jumped up on Ekins' front counter, and shot the place up on a very busy Saturday afternoon.
OG Satans Slave Dave Arthur's bike. Very cool engine - a slabside Shovelhead bottom end, S&S Evo top end, and a recoil Morris magneto. Nowadays, Dave is an Early Rider member, along with guys like Mike Parti, Droopy, Buzzard, and Dougie Poo from San Berdoo, to name a few. Dave is a very cool guy, always has good stories to tell from "back then". You can usually catch Dave up at Bob's Big Boy in Toluca Lake on a Friday night.

This is the first version (and the first time out) of what finally became the NorCal Widow. This is when it had the 3 1/2 gal. fatbobs, a '47 Indian Chief dash, the low shotgun pipes, dual discs, banana rear caliper, 6qt. aluminum oil tank, and the Knuck footboards and seat.

I had originally made that Knuck seat into a "roll-around" for the shop. I rolled around on that working on bikes for 32 years before I cut it off it's wheels for this bike, and had the pan black powdercoated, and upholstered in black leather. I still have that seat - 39 years now!

I went back to VLV the next year, but I never went back after that. Too many Orcabillies, and Fatty Paiges for my liking, I guess. Plus, they've never really liked bikes showing up there anyways.

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1 comment:

  1. tiptopdadddyFebruary 10, 2009 at 3:47 AM

    I went to the first VLV '97 when only maybe 3 or 4 hotrods and two bikes showed up. The entire top deck of the Gold Coast garage was empty except for a half dozen rides. Some dude in a blue 32 coupe decided he would show off with a burnout. He showed some class alright. He went about 100' then pulled hard to the right crashing into the wall. It completely destroyed the car's frontend. I laughed my ass off, what a goofball. I later contributed money for a tow back to Cali. I went back in '98, and '02. The car show WAS the show by then. I seem to remember that Indian. I think I have pics somewhere. It was cool to see the Munster Coach and Dragula. Otherwise it had become rather boring, nothing like the early days. But I haven't been back since. Popularity takes the fun out of cool stuff.

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