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Del's
Cornish Cream
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THIS, I SUSPECT WOULD HAVE A SIMILAR EFFECT on most young boys. So on his 21st birthday, he bought himself an Ironhead Sporty, and has had a Harley on the road ever since, although not always as stunning as the one we see here. Four years ago Del fully restored a WLC to show standard, which was featured in magazines and books, it truly was a beautiful machine, but he’d always wanted a Panhead. So here it is Del’s Cornish Cream, a 1959 FLH ...
Del had been keeping his eye on the bike market for a year or so waiting patiently, not easy when you’ve got the money burning a hole in your pocket, until exactly what he wanted turned up. He was looking for a Duo-Glide with panniers. Condition was not an important factor as Del was more than prepared to work on the bike to build his dream.
An advert was spotted for a ’59 which sounded like it would fit the bill so the number was rung immediately, but to no avail as the kind of offer the seller was looking for was extortionate considering that the bike did not, and would not come with an MOT. About a year later, after several dead ends, Lisa, Del’s wife, pulled the advert for the ’59 out of her purse and convinced him to ring the number again, on the grounds that it had been totally over priced and therefore maybe still up for sale. Amazingly – or not as the case might be – it was still for sale but the price had dropped considerably and was knocked down again with the help and bartering skills of a very good friend, Joe.
The FLH was in an absolute mess when he bought it, after a few hours tinkering it just about ran, but some of the tinware was ruined, the electrics were faulty, bits were missing and it had a lovely buddy seat which some sad person had covered in gold glittery PVC. Umm, very tasteful … not.
When
the previous owner of many years, was asked what adventures he had had
on it he told about the time he had travelled to Birmingham from Manchester.
Del was impressed. “What all the way to Alabama?” he asked.
No, came the reply, Birmingham England. So it could be safely assumed
that the bike hadn’t done too many miles in recent years. But
by then Del had fallen completely in love with those sexy panniers, Oh,
and the rest of the bike of course, and he just had to have it. The bike
came with a large box of ‘spares’. As the last owner put it,
“Oh, that’s the original hand shift/ footclutch, tanks etc,
I don’t know why anybody would want all that crap.” Del had
to bite his lip, feigned mock
agreement and loaded the so called ‘crap’ into the van as quickly
as he could, not believing his luck.
That
was just before Christmas 2001, but the Pan was not touched until mid
January, giving Del and Lisa time to overindulge in mince pies and the
occasional sherry left for Santa, and to work out exactly what they wanted
the end product to look like. It was decided that the bike would not be
a full on resto’ like the 45, but mildly customised
to fit Del’s own specific requirements.
Once clear on the plan of action, he set about stripping the Pan down, and after having built several projects Del has discovered that one of the most important tools you can have in the garage is a phone book. There are some jobs that should be left to the professionals.
He removed the SU carb and the cut out tanks that accommodated it, replacing them with correct items from the spares and an S&S ‘Super E’.
The motor and gearbox were completely rebuilt with all new internals, which were then mated up with the discarded externals, and here Del came across a problem. The linkages had come from the “box of crap” and he had no idea what went where: there were definitely more rods than were needed. No problem, thought he, just look through a few old magazines and books and work it out from there. Wrong! All the pictures of Duo Glides that could be found were either foot shift or didn’t show the left hand side – some photographers consider this the ‘boring’ side as it does not have the carbs pipes or much else happening. Thankfully Del has access to the Internet and found all the information he needed on couple of specialist Pan sites. The chroming was sent to The London Chroming Co, not cheap but you get what you pay for … and Del let it slip that he has bought Harleys for less than he paid for the chrome.
The frame, brackets and other bits and bobs were powder-coated through one of Joe’s contacts. The wheels were sent off to James Wheildon for a nice new set of stainless spokes all round. The paint was entrusted to a very good friend, Treacle at Sticky Fingers. As luck would have it the original hand shift tanks were in excellent condition as was the front ’guard (it’s not a Fender, ’cause they make guitars!), the rear one however was a different story. At some point in its life the hinged portion of the guard had been brazed on to the main body making it a onepiece item. A new hinge was found and fettled into place but after hours of preparation and a careful application of paint the boys were still not happy with it so a tail-dragger, picked up at an autojumble, was pressed into service.
Everything was fine for a while until the rear tyre went flat and Del discovered what a pain in the arse a one piece ’guard was going to be.
Enter stage left Neil at Celtic Customs in Ruthin, another very good friend, who managed to source another hinged ’guard, as well as other bits like the grips, cables, inner primary, brake shoes and loads of other odds and sods – including a set of bars to match the grin on Del’s face. Back to Sticky Fingers with the new mudguard for Treacle to wave his magic paint wand over. Third time lucky and everybody is happy with the end result, which sits nicely at the rear supporting the original rear light.
The
seat is an old Corbin seat pan that was taken to Autotrim in Ivybridge,
who have beautifully built up the foam and covered it in luscious leather.
Lisa assures me its very comfy, but then after riding around on the rack
of the 45 – I kid you not – anything would be considered an
improvement.
While researching this bike, Del found that it is one of only 121 of its kind built in 1959, so it is rather a rare machine. However, being the kind of guy that always has half a dozen project ideas in his head at any one time, he is selling this one to make room for his next dream machine. That is after he has built his wife’s project! So if you fancy owning a most spectacular piece of American history (probably very much past tense, I'd guess by now) do give Del a call on 01752 848085.