I've got a little story to tell you that I think you will find interesting. I am a retired airline pilot (for the time being) who met a pilot for Air France at the Harley dealer in Salt Lake City in the summer of 2005. Since we both flew the B-777 we had an instant interest in each other and have become good friends. Since our meeting we have taken several motorcycle trips together, both here in the USA and in Europe.
I am an admirer of American iron and have several Harley's and a '48 Chief which I enjoy riding. But this story is not about anything on this side of the Atlantic.
I was a guest of my friend in the summer of '06 and we spent a week exploring the French countryside. I spent a week on a BMW touring bike and while impressed with the engineering, I could not find a comfortable riding position……so it's Harley for me. Perhaps the most interesting thing we did during that week was to visit my friend's aunt. She obviously is a person of means and lives in a beautiful home.
She is a real character and one fun lady, I would have loved to have had the opportunity to know this lady when she was younger. She is a widow and her late husband is actually my friend's blood relative.
The best part of this house was found down stairs. Seems her late husband was a huge motorcycle enthusiast and had a collection of over 60 bikes. He had some real old stuff, but one of the coolest bikes was a Black Shadow.
Since Vincent dropped “HRD” from it's branding in 1949 I'm thinking this example must be a '48 or possibly an early '49.
There were 5 rooms full of bikes, mostly BMW's.
Additionally, he had a well equipped shop with various machining equipment.
Now lest you think this guy was only into European bikes, some of his favorite bikes were Harley's. He had an old Electra Glide.
He also had an original Fat Boy…..check out the tag.
I had a great time talking with my friend and his aunt telling them about the rumors of how the Fat Boy got it's name and about what the yellow markings on the bike are supposed to represent. They had never heard the story so they were very interested.
My friend's uncle has been dead for over 10 years and his wife has kept the basement of this house untouched since his death. It's always interesting to hear about “barn finds” and I have never personally found one myself until this trip if you can this a “find”.
Perhaps what separates this from a true find is this collection is not for sale. I tried to see if the aunt would sell anything and she was not interested. I'm not sure any of the bikes have been started since the death of their owner, but when he was alive most were ridden.
Hope you enjoyed my little story. We have a lot stereotypes about the French, but these folks were as down to earth as you and me with an abundance of enthusiasm for motorcycles.
–Rick Small
