Searching For My Old Harley Davidson K Model In the Vallejo, California Area

The picture is something I found on the internet

I have been searching for a 1952 or 53 Harley Davidson K Model that I owned years ago.  Many years ago!

I know it was a 52 or 53 because it did not have the trapdoor to gain access to the gearbox.  The last time I saw it was in Vallejo, California and I believe it is still in the Vallejo area.

Here is all of the history that I have.  I went to Vacaville to look at a basket case K Model with my friend Mark Alexander, this was in about 1983.  It was scattered throughout an old shed behind the sellers house and we picked up everything that looked like a Harley part and Mark bought it.

I had always fancied having a flathead Sportster since looking at a beautiful custom K Model chopper in Benicia earlier in life.  It was for sale but hopelessly beyond what I could afford.

After my Death Trap 650 BSA tried to kill me one last time I decided to sell it.  I was then working on my 1947 45" Harley and the thrill of owning the BSA had passed.  I asked Mark if he would swap the Harley K Model  for my BSA.  It was a pretty rapid transaction.

After the horrible accident on Highway 29 my friend Mike Dickerson was in need of something to focus on so I gave him the Harley K Model project.  He never built it and the last time I saw it he had painted the sheet metal tan and the frame black.  After his death, his brother Ralph Dickerson inherited the motorcycle.

Ralph went away for awhile and a guy named Donald Williams in Vallejo had possession of it.  I believe that Donald also died and after that the trail went cold.

It was in a garage in Vallejo the last I heard but I couldn't get a response from the person who had it,  I believe it is a relative of Donald Williams.

Here is the chain of ownership as I know it

Mark Alexander

Tim Drennen

Mike Dickerson

Ralph Dickerson

Donald Williams

Donald Williams relative ???

So if anyone knows where this motorcycle presently resides please give me a call @ 951-992-9839
 

The Death trap BSA 650

The Death Trap BSA 650

The first week that I owned my 1972 BSA 650 Thunderbolt it tried to kill me!  

I had graduated from a Honda CL185 to a 650 British twin and I was in heaven...for a minute.

I had my girl on the back and we were blasting along a narrow tree lined road...no helmets of course, this was 1976.  We were celebrating our independence from the same Britts who made my newly purchased machine. As I entered a tight corner the throttle stuck in the wide open position rocketing us toward the guard rail.  There was about a foot wide space between the pavement and the rail and as the rear tire shot dirt behind us we magically navigated the corner and pulled to the side of the road and took a deep breath.  This was the first time I almost died on that bike.  I don't think it registered with Celeste how close we came to cashing it in that day!

I was 17 that summer and new to the San Francisco Bay area.  I would fill up the tank and just ride around... getting lost most of the time..  This was before Google maps so you had to wing it.

Later on I lived on Idora Street in Vallejo and parked always my motorcycle in the living room...that's where they belong... Right?  I came home at around 2;00 in the morning and decided to to do a burn out in the living room and almost launched it through the rear window. My neighbor Mike was not amused!

When I bought the bike it was a stock machine.  I rode it stock for quite a while but I was out scrambling one day and fried the electrical system.  I pushed it home and the next day took it down to bits and decided to build a chopper.

I was living in Vallejo and Ted Phelps had a chopper shop out on highway 37.  Its a Hells Angels shop now but back then it was cool old bike shop.  Originally my bike had an oil in tank frame so I looked around and found an earlier frame and had Ted weld on a hard tail section.  Now I was cooking with gas.  Not quite....it would be several years and several states before it ever ran again.

I moved to Wyoming and hauled it along with me.  I moved to the hinterlands of Wyoming to work in construction.  My girl Celeste came with me but we had an unpleasant surprise when we ended up living way out in the sticks by a fishing lake.  It was a dumpy little cabin with no bathroom facilities! You had to walk about 100 feet to the restroom.  She was not impressed.  After a short time she went back to California and I don't blame her.

When winter hit the whole adventure turned a bit sour and I was looking for a way back to warmer climes.  After work one day my boss was telling me how his divorce was a bitter one and he was stuck with a Chevy Corvette and would I be interested in taking his bright yellow car and make it disappear.  He he said he would give me a 24 hour head start.....he didn't!

I secured the Corvette and went home that Friday to my dingy little cabin and removed the passenger seat and loaded everything I owned, including the BSA, into the car and headed West.

I hauled that bike back to California and put it in a friends closet.  Later it went into my girlfriends car trunk where it stayed for a long time.  I had other things to worry about....

Looking back on it I cant believe everything that happened myself.

It's too long of a story to tell now but I ended up back in Montana and was working construction.  I had bought a 1953 Ford pickup and I decided that it was time to go get my BSA from my then ex-girlfriend. One fine day my brother Gil and I loaded up and headed out to California to get my bike.

The trip out was pretty uneventful but when we got to Vallejo it got interesting!  My ex-girlfriends family had decided that they had just about enough of me and my antics but they had graciously stored my basket case chopper...thank you.  I can't mention names here but you all were great!

Gil and I loaded up my bike in the Ford pickup and planned our trip back to Montana.  I had to find him first.  He had disappeared for about a week!  My friends in Vallejo had changed since I was last there and they changed even more before I got back to good old  Vallejo later on.

We finally headed back home and got as far as Sparks, Nevada. Remember that name, it will always live in infamy in my mind. I still cringe when I pass through there.

So here we are stuck in Sparks, Nevada with very little cash and my basket case motorcycle.  This is a strange but true story....we sold the pickup and loaded the bike on an airplane where it sailed comfortably back to Billings while Gil and I hitch hike home. Oh yes..it was a fine trip indeed.

I put the bike mostly back together in Montana and got married to my wife Lori.  We are still married but she sure put up with a lot, to put it very mildly!

After living in Montana I decided that I had enough of Montana and the cold and decided to head back to the coast.  I had an old Ford Econo-Line van that I had fixed up.  We loaded up everything in the van including the BSA and headed out.  As we were coming into ...you guessed it!  Sparks Nevada The engine blew up!  Here we were stuck in Sparks...again!  We finally made it to Vallejo but it was quite an ordeal.  We ended up towing our van behind a U-Haul truck across the mountains all the way to Vallejo.  I wouldn't sell The BSA even though we were in dire straits.

After a while I got the thing running but it was a death trap.  I had little money and grand ideas!

It launched me into a block wall one day when my rear brake didn't work right.    I bent my brand new 6 over fork tubes.  I almost ate it that day..

The next time it tried to kill me a car stopped dead in front of me and I locked my front wheel under it's rear bumper.

I was a bit crazy back then and would split lanes at 100 mph with Lori on the back.  When she was pregnant with our son she stopped riding with me for good.  Again, I don't blame her.  I wasn't even running a front brake because they didn't look righteous!

One summer my wife's family came out and visited us in Vallejo.  We were going to go up to the lake  and everyone was riding with her dad in his truck except her brother Sam and I .  We were going to take the bike as it was a fine summer day.  I did a pre-trip inspection and tightened everything up including the rear chain.  We were heading up to the lake on Highway 80 in the fast lane...always the fast lane my friends!  All of a sudden the bike started to whip violently back and forth across two lanes!  I steered and countered steered and finally wrestled it to a stop.  We didn't go down but it was a miracle .  The guy who was behind us said it was something to behold as we went side ways back and forth across two lanes at around 70 mph !  The axle had come loose and the wheel was locked up in the frame  Thank God the bolt hadn't come all the way out of the framed or life would have gotten a whole lot shorter that day!

The final attempt on my life was the most memorable.  My friend Mike Dickerson and I were racing down Highway 29 headed for Napa.  We were going around 80 mph when a car turned right out in front of us and stopped!  I was in the right lane and nailed the throttle so I was going at least 90 when I missed his front bumper by a few inches.  I had just gotten by him when I heard a horrible crash, Mike had tee boned the car at around 70 mph.  He was almost killed that day.  It was horrific........

The bizarre thing about it was that the man who turned out in front us... had the same exact thing happen to him and his wife on their honeymoon.  He was a cool old guy and he felt horrible about it and later visited Mike in the hospital.

I rode home and parked it.  

I later traded it for a K Model Harley Davidson basket case which I gave to Mike to try and get him interested in living again.  It didn't work. He didn't die in the wreck  when he hit the car but it did ultimately kill him! He ended it all himself after years of trying to heal from that horrible day.

What an adventure the BSA 650 Thunderbolt turned out to be!  Hey , maybe it was me!

My beautiful wife on the BSA

Yep.. a true death trap chopper

Book Review .....Racing the Gods by Paul Ritter

 As you may suspect by now I read a lot of books.  It is a bit of a challenge to find a book that is relative to your interests and is written well enough to read.  This book meets all of the criteria.  It is a very good racing book and by that I mean that it is entertaining and informative.  If you love motorcycle racing and Ducati's then you will love this book !  For us BMW fans, there is some flat twin racing as well.

Paul Ritter is a pretty amazing guy who has endured a lot of challenges in his life.  He shares his story of racing in the formative years of AMA Superbike racing and later battling a debilitating injury where he ended up in a wheelchair. 

 

 I'm getting old but I still like a good long chopper !

Oskar Schindler

 

Oskar Schindler helped save over 1000 Jewish lives during WW2 but before the war he was an avid motorcycle racer.

Choppers

Choppers are an affliction that I have had since I cracked the cover of Easy Riders Magazine at 17 years old.  It was instant love...I had to have one.

I was at the gas station yesterday just minding my own business when an old school long bike pulled up to the stop light.  It was a rigid Shovelhead with a king and queen seat and a nice long chrome springer that looked like a Denvers at a distance.

Now I have said many times...no more choppers!  I'm too old etc, etc.

I still love a good custom motorcycle and would really like another.  If set up right they are fairly comfortable

I found the pictures on the web and they don't translate too well but you get the idea.

Gorjus by the best...Sugar Bear.   I have always loved this bike.

Pat Kennedy

 This motorcycle was built by Pat Kennedy.  I actually saw this bike in person when I lived Albuquerque I saw this bike in person.  It is as good as it gets.

Gorjus

Red Rockette was the last chopper that I built

I put a lot of time and money into this bike.  Edelbrock engine, Denvers springer, custom molded frame, hydraulic clutch and paint by Joann Bortles.  It is in her book How To Master Airbrush Painting Techniques

It really wasn't what I had in mind when I started.

Hello

Hello...my name is Tim Drennen and this blog is strictly from my own recollections and ideas.  

I have not set it up for public comments, recommendations or any such thing.  After spending too much time on Facebook and other on line venues and have simply grown tired of the constant comments that a person would never say to you in person.  I know, it's the new age and way of doing things but it has grown tiresome.  So if you really need to comment you can find me on Facebook and other places in the cyber world.....  

I wish you all well and hope that my musings are positive and somewhat interesting.
 

Installing the engine back into it's original frame

I was very excited to get my engine back from Jeff Moore.  It turned out very nice indeed!

I am not always as patient as I should be and have destroyed my back more than once lifting Indian, Triumph and Harley Davidson Knucklehead motors into frames.  They are heavier than they look.  I once carried a BSA engine a half a block but I digress!

I thought about it half the night after bringing the engine home.  I knew it wasn't grossly heavy because I had just wrestled it out of the car and onto my rolling cart.  It seemed that I could make a little shelf next to the frame and then lift the engine onto the shelf and just ease it on into the frame.  Well not quite that easy.  The engine has to be tilted onto it's nose a bit to clear the frame.  Anyway with a bit of careful maneuvering we got it in the frame with no scratches to the beautiful black paint !!

I do not know when engine number 527466 and frame number 527466 were last together but by many small miracles they are back together and I am very thankful to have a matching number BMW R51/3.

 It's been many years since I purchased the large black and white photograph of a 1952 BMW R51/3 but I now am very honored to have a viable motorcycle project in the works.  I have started with a lot less and built many bikes over the years.  I'm not sure why I'm wired that way but I just am................

At Speed...........................................

 

The BMW R51/3 Saga Continues

I began this BMW R51/3 journey not knowing where it was headed.  I purchased an engine, a rear drive and drive shaft off of Ebay to start out.  The engine was not in good shape when it arrived.  The front timing cover was damaged and there was a lot of damage inside the engine block.  It was a 1953 engine but I just wanted to build an R51/3 before I got too old.

I looked on Ebay for a cover and found a cover and a 1952 engine block that was priced very well.  I almost asked the seller to split them up but decided to just buy it all...I could sell the block later and recover my expenses on the cover.

I have told how I ended up with matching engine and frame numbers before but didn't give the back story.

I do know the names of the person involved but will not mention the players by name here.  A man in Oklahoma had gotten up in years and decided to sell his BMW parts stash so he advertised and everyone flocked to his garage to get a bargain.  A buyer came up from Texas and started picking through his parts but he was a bit aggressive and he angered the old gentleman selling everything and he cut short Texas's shopping activities.  Texas had already put together a pile and wanted more.  In his pile was engine block 527466 but he also wanted a plunger frame that was up on a shelf.  The seller told him to pay for his pile and leave...which he did.

He still had parts for sale and allowed more buyers to come.  This is when my frame was purchased by another Oklahoma buyer who very generously sold it to me..thank you sir.

Here I am in SOCAL with a messed up engine, a  1952 engine block and looking for a frame.  I would have had a non-matching bike but I was OK with that.  

Late one night I got a frantic call from a gentleman that I had done business with and he said that an R51/3 plunger frame  had just come up for sale on Facebook.  I immediately called the seller and purchased the frame sight unseen.  When he sent me pictures of the frame it had the same serial number as the engine block from Texas!  This all strange but true............

I had Jeff Moore remove everything from the 1953 cases and use them on the 1952 block and now I have a totally rebuilt engine and freshly restored frame, plungers and drive shaft.  Jeff is almost finished with my transmission and I have most everything for my front end so I need to keep on keepin' on !

WMB R51/3............

Yes I do have slight dyslexia but I spelled that right.

When I took my engine cases to my motor builder (Jeff Moore) he looked at the BMW serifs that are stamped on either end of the serial number on the engine block.  The serif is marked WMB instead of BMW.  It's very small but visible under magnification.  He said that he has only seen it on 1952 engine blocks and wondered if the frame is stamped with the same dies...it is!

This is the frame and engine that came back together by chance.

There are theories about these odd die stamps but most likely no one knows for certain.  The dies were signed out to BMW employees by the company. Perhaps someone lost their serif die stamps and another set was made, Who really know but it's an interesting piece of BMW history.

I would love to have a set of correct looking tank roundels that are marked WMB!

 I had Mike Dunn of Vintage German Motorcycles do some repairs and paint my frame.  It cam back just beautiful!  I sent the rear drive and drive shaft off to Todd Rasmussen in New Mexico and everything came back in really nice shape.  I drove myself and him a bit crazy trying the mate the drive shaft up with the rear drive but I finely got it done.

Isle Of Man TT Returns on May 29, 2022

The TT returns in 2022

I do not watch a lot of sports but I do watch the TT!  The TT is arguably the most challenging motorcycle race in the world.  It is a very dangerous venue to race.  There are more than 250 corners to a TT lap with terrain that varies wildly in terms of elevation and conditions.  You go  from racing through village streets with every pole, fence, dry stone wall and building just waiting to kill you to racing over the mountain at extremely high speeds.  Sometimes the roads are dry, sometimes wet and sometimes the asphalt bubbles in the heat.

You can purchase pay per viewing that has live coverage for the first time ever at 

ttplus.iomttraces.com

Qualifying races start on may 29th

Be fast but come home safe.....

  

 The late but great Joey Dunlop

Triumph Desert Sled Webco Parts for Sale

 Time is getting short..finish up your Desert Sled for Born Free in June. Some nice Webco parts

Original Webco top end oiler

Nice reproduction Webco handlebars 

Repop front number plate 

Triumph tappet covers..not sure if they are original Webco?

I'm not interested in splitting them up

$325.00

951-992-9839

A Motorcycle Saga..........................

 

An Interesting Motorcycle Tale ( if you are interested in such things )

I have been advertising for a BMW R51/3 frame for a few months.

My wife bought me the beginnings of a 1953 BMW for my birthday.

I planned on just building a Bitsa out of it. A bit of this and a bit of that that would come together as one running motorcycle.

In the motorcycle collectible world matching engine and frame numbers make a huge difference in the end value of the machine when built.

When I received the engine my wife had purchased for me there was damage to the front generator case. Instead of making a big deal out of it I went to my most used but unfavorite auction site and found one. However, it came with a 1952 R51/3 engine block/ case. I bit the bullet and bought the whole deal. I set the engine case aside and proceeded with the engine build.

I think highly of Jeff Moore and was honored that he would rebuild my engine and transmission.

I received a call from a fellow motorcycle aficionado late one night saying there was a correct frame for sale on Facebook. I immediately called the seller even though it was even later where he was located. Keep in mind that I had not looked at the auction pictures or details, I just immediately called the seller and committed to purchasing the frame sight unseen.

Here is where the plot thickens...after committing to purchase, I went on Facebook and looked at the ad. Yes, you are correct ! The frame number and engine case number that I had bought for parts are an exact match !

Strange but absolutely true !

I took the 1952 engine block to Jeff and he is using the parts from my '53 engine to build our new matching number engine.

I do have most of the back story but it's lengthy. Perhaps another day ?

I do not know who produced the picture I used but it's cool and I acknowledge your skills

Book Review..Stealing Speed by Mat Oxley

 STEALING SPEED by Mat Oxley

This is a really excellent book. It's a well written and researched account of two stroke motorcycle development. The East German company MZ had found the secret to unleash the power and usability of the two stroke through the genius of the engineer Walter Kaaden.  The Japanese motorcycle companies were getting beaten badly by MZ until they stole the secret of speed.....

BSA Gold Stars In Louisiana

 I built a bought a bunch of BSA Gold Stars when I lived in Baton Rouge, LA

I knew a very cool guy there name Jim Robertson who ran British Bikes Ltd. who was gracious enough to sell me some machines.  Thank you sir!

I never met up the Rougaru though I encountered some situations where a person might wonder what was going to happen next!

One fine day I went to look at a couple of Triumph motorcycles and it was in some little town in the middle of nowhere.  I could not find the address even though I had mapped it before leaving home.

I inquired at a house and they said, Oh yes, just go to the end of the street and follow the rode up the hill.  Now this was straight out of an Alfred Hitchcock film with a huge house on the top of the hill.  

I met the guy who was a bit different but I shook it off and went forward with looking at the motorcycles when he pulled out a second motorcycle which I also wanted to purchase but hadn't brought that much cash with me.

He invited me into the house to further discuss the deal. I usually keep my distance when I'm off in the hinterland but I wanted to make my trip worthwhile.  It was a very creepy house with all the curtains closed.  Yes it was getting a bit weird! I told him that I wanted both motorcycles and would pay cash for one but needed to write a check for the second one and that I was good for it.  He said "don't worry about it, I'm the sheriff".  In Louisiana you just don't play with law enforcement and he made sure I knew that.  In Louisiana sheriff can be delegated by local police and they aren't even always what you would think of as the law. I think some may remember Steven Seagal playing cop in New Orleans. No worries, my check was good!

I was very happy to go outside and load the motorcycles and get out of there.  It was just a strange deal all around.....

I bought and sold a lot of motorcycles while I lived there but there were some strange areas that you had to go into to get them sometimes.  I guess that could be said of a lot of places though.

BMW and Harley Davidson

 Two different methods...1952 BMW R51/3 and 1946 Harley Davidson WL/WR

They were both good motorcycles just a bit different.  Remember that during WW2 Harley did build a copy cat BMW type flat twin

The 1946 Harley WL Build......

This is a very rough draft of how the '46 WL came about, some steps are missing but it gives you an idea of how it was built.

I think that building a stock bike might be easier, I have built those also.  I guess that I have always liked custom motorcycles.  This one has taken on several different looks since its inception.  I think that I will sell it and focus on my BMW R51/3 for now.....who knows?

Engine and frame together for the first time.  I always remove the paint on the frame where the engine rests.  Tighten the back bolts down tight and be sure to shim the front motor mounts so there is no strain on the cases.

Getting ready to install engine in the chassis.  My back always pay for it later!

Peaking at at Harley Davidson engine number 46WL1819

I had Craters and Freighters package up the engine that I bought from Steve Schackman.  It was shipped from St. Louis, MO and got here in SOCAL in good shape.  I have used them several times for shipping and really like their company.  A bit on the expensive side but what isn't these days?

I actually really dug this look before spending several thousand on paint !

I found an N.O.S. front fork leg..not cheap my friends

Just kinda looking at everything with the N.O.S. wheels.  I changed the gas tank to 41-46 style later.

This is where I got the seat idea from.  This is a build by Billy Lane of Choppers Inc.

And here is my bike with the same seat, Billy fabbed up a seat mount and sold me a board track seat...thank you Billy Lane

I changed the handlebars later to get a spring return throttle.  Who knows how much headache I would save by sticking with a plan!

Still playing with a Jack Dale style build

Oh yes, more changes to a sprung solo seat.  The bracket is kind of neat as it goes down through the pogo seat hole on the frame with a long bolt and is secured at the bottom.    

A lot of time and money here folks.  Just waiting on my magneto from Joe Hunt and its finished

 

Jack Dale Harley 45"

This is what I started out to build when I started my WL build and somehow got turned around.  I guess that my mind shifted when I bought an already built 45 engine for my project.

Anyhow, Jack Dale built and raced this 45" Harley in 1951 or 52 and achieved a speed of 123.52 on 81 octane fuel.  Pretty impressive.  He was laying flat out on the bike Rollie Free style which has been outlawed now.

Pretty cool stuff.....

These pictures were borrowed from the Beauty of Speed site