The last Blog talked at length about the time I spent with Dave Perewitz while he painted a Bagger and I collected material for a new Advanced Custom Motorcycle Painting book. Which provides a nice segue into some other characters who own a shop close to the Dave Perewitz facility in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. But first, a word from our sponsor:
A New Tattoo Book
A New Tattoo Book
Our first Tattoo book, Advanced Tattoo Art, continues to sell well, which gave me the courage to publish one more. Tattoo From Idea to Ink is written by Joy Surles, the woman who edits Skin Art and a group of affiliated magazines. Joy’s book covers the various tattoo styles, how to find a good artist, and how to turn a photo into a usable outline that can be used as the basis for your next tattoo. The book is filled with some amazing photos of even more amazing art. The artists represented in the book are some of the best in the business. Joy’s take on tattoos and tattoo artists is on it’s way to the printer now which means we should have some advance copies in the office by the middle of March.
Back to Massachusetts
The area south of Boston is a maze of two-lane highways interrupted by a host of small cities. The highway leading north from Bridgewater leads eventually to Whitman, home to the Shadley Brothers shop. I stopped by their shop about 6:00 PM on Sunday, just after I escaped from Logan airport, only to find the boys hard at work on a Bobber being built for Drag Specialties.
Now you might think that a project built for Drag would be a “catalog bike,” but the Brothers Shadley took it a little beyond that. The foundation of this bike is a bobber style frame with only 30 degrees of rake and no stretch from NY City Choppers. For power the boys installed a 93 inch Shovel from S&S, with a unique, Shadley-Built billet cover for the oil filter, the one that mounts up front where the generator used to sit.
Additional handwork includes the massaged rear fender and gas tank, both of which mount with very neat and precise bungs welded in place to make mounting both sanitary and solid.
Like any good bobber, this one rolls on wire wheels, though the real-deal bobbers didn’t use radial spoked designs from American Wire Wheel. The other thing most bobbers don’t have is the front and rear hubcap seen on this bike, because both are one-off designs from Mark Shadley. Expect to see more of the Shadley-Brothers/Drag bike at future shows and magazine ads.
Bobber
Bobber right side
Bobber
Shadley Bobber
The Jay Bird
After a long summer of no progress, followed by a fall that was only semi-productive I’ve finally started to limber up a few wrenches and move the old hot rod along. My friend Crazy John says that the way to get a project done, “is to do something everyday, even if all you do is tighten one bolt.” A few of my tightened bolts include the ones that hold the old Carter AFB in place on the cast iron intake manifold. I also installed a new set of plugs and wires. With the engine looking like an engine again I’ve started to think about fuel delivery.
Henry J
I was all set to order an electric pump in order to leave the right side of the engine free of mechanical pumps which would open the area up for the installation of an AC compressor and the alternator. Then I looked at how much extra work that would be and the fact that this project’s been going on way too long. So I shit-canned the idea of AC (at least for now) and ordered a fuel pump adapter from Hot Hemi Heads. The original mechanical pumps are no longer available, so HHH supplies a spacer that adapts a small block Mopar pump to the old hemi. The spacer showed up the other day, and I ran down to the local auto parts emporium and purchased a new pump. The alternator? I mounted that on the left side where the good folks from Chrysler conveniently left a mounting lug as part of the water pump housing.
Clearance
One of the recent blogs mentioned the clearance issues between the steering rack and the oil pan, a situation that’s been corrected by raising the engine just slightly. Which brings up the subject of the steering column and linkage. For help in this department I’ve asked a friend, Pat Kary (seen recently in the Sheet Metal Fab Biker Basics book), to come and give me his insight as a street rod builder, before I start ordering columns, shafts and U-joints.
As always, whether it’s books or old hot rods, slow progress is better than no progress at all.
