The "Rumblefish" Panhead......

Rumblefish, By David Uhl - Courtesy of David Uhl Studio

You may, or may not be familiar with the above painting. The title of the painting is Rumblefish, and it was skillfully rendered by artist David Uhl, who I'm happy to be acquainted with. I've been an admirer of David's work for a long time.

David works like a lot of artists do, by first taking composition photographs of the subject matter, using live models and the appropriate props, then using those photos as a reference as he paints. You might be surprised when I tell you that the person in the above painting is Dennis Goodson. Dennis posed for David, and he also provided the Panhead that you see behind our biker fisherman, lazing on a dock, somewhere in Daytona. Dennis and David have worked together on several paintings in this fashion.

The bike that Dennis provided is the one pictured below. I happened to be over at Dennis' shop a couple days ago, when Dennis was just finishing up a new primary belt drive installation for the current owner. Dennis thought the people who read my blog would like a few photos of the real bike behind the painting, so we pushed it outside for a few shots. One thing led to another, and Dennis gave me a brief background on it.....

Here's a little more history on the bike that not very many people know, in addition to it's appearance in the painting. The Pan was originally owned by a club brother of Dennis's, named Oscar. Both the bike and Oscar had a colorful - if not a grisly past. You see, Oscar met his demise not at the hands of another rival club, or a jealous boyfriend of a tittie dancer, but by the claws of a mountain lion(!) It's true, you couldn't make this stuff up. The story of what occurs after the discovery of Oscar's body is the stuff that movies are made of.

Dennis and I are going to sit down the next time I'm over at his shop, and I'm going to get the full history on Oscar and this bike, from it's beginning up to today. When I've got all the info, I'm going to sit down, and write it all up in an article. We'll see if I can get this story published, and you'll be the first to know if, and when I do.....