Resurection
I guess I should go back to the beginning. Fresh out of high school I had a deep desire to start something. I wasn’t really sure what that “thing” was. All I knew is I wanted to make or invent something.i wanted to find a way to dig out of the surrounding I seemed to be trapped in. I had just blown out my knee playing collage football, and I didn’t really have a back up plan. Harley’s were already a huge part of my life. I have a pretty nice 1976 FLH and a 1950 shovel pan basket case. I had this really great idea to start a clothing company called “Carnage”. I think the idea was spurred on by a new generation of surf/skate company’s that were popping up, Like Skull Skates. I had a good friend named “Link” who had a screen printing shop he ran out of my grand parents garage. The first shirts I made were some defunct vintage VW company called EMPI-Speedwell. They made some badass wheels called BRM’s in the 60’ & 70’s. they were super rare and I loved them. I sold a few at VW events and Pomona swap meet. They were cool, but I still hadn’t found my “thing” I was looking for. I screen printed a few other odd jobs here and there, but that was about as far as “Carnage” made it. About that time I started doing security for bands on the road. No need to pay rent on my own place since I would be gone for months. I moved everything to my moms house in Long Beach. I stashed my FLH and my basket case, and tools in her garage. Between tours I would come home for a few weeks at a time. Flush with cash I would work on my shovel pan all day, and work nights at a bar called the Doll Hut in Anaheim California at night.
I really didn’t know what I was doing with this bike. I just wanted a Frisco style rigid, and would continue to work at it till I had one. My friend Link had a small mig welder in the same garage as his screen printing equipment. It was only a mile from my moms house, so I was over there almost every single day. First thing I made was a new rear fender. Across the street from the Doll Hut was a machine shop called Ultimate Machine. Jim Pitner “Shit pants” was the owner, and he was a regular at the bar. He would let me come in a couple hours before work and work on parts for my bike. I made some billet aluminum struts for the rear fender. Not having access to a Tig welder to weld Aluminum I took pieces to a welder down the street from my moms house. Luna’s Welding was owned by master welder Manual Luna. Back in the 1970’s Manual owned FUBAR Motorcycle Exhaust systems that made designs for Dick Allen. He was a big help with figuring out stuff for my bike. The motor was a little ragged so I took it to Carl’s Speed Shop, and told him I wanted it to haul ass! Carl Murrow was a big guy, and a genuine badass in the 1950’s. He suggested making it 88 cubic inches with parts from S&S, and custom cylinders from Randy Torgelson from Hyperformance. I said Hell Yes! As you can see this “basket case” is starting to take shape. Once the motor was bench tested and picked up I put it in my newly painted 1957 straight leg frame. I needed some pipes. Manual said he working part time making pipes for a guy named Kenny Price. He said I could use their bender. So I trucked my roller over to Kenny’s shop and over a weekend made a set of stacked shotgun drag pipes. Manual and Kenny were very impressed at how clean they came out. So clean in fact a couple months later a new exhaust company was born, Sampson Exhausts. They even used pictures of my pipes as there first model of pipes! I was totally flattered that somebody would use something I made for anything….