Winter ’75 to spring ’76
During the winter of ’76 I tore my bike apart and began the project.
Photo #6 shows the frame of the same bike after I chopped it. I had removed everything from the frame including front end, engine, tranny, etc. All I had sitting in the laundry room of the house was the frame. I then removed the swingarm and hack sawed off the fender supports so that I only had the front part of the frame left. My brother-in-law was instrumental in the chopping. He was an up and coming pipefitter and did most of the welding required to attach the softail. My wife, Jill, holding the fender for the photo. That way I could dream about what the bike would look like the next spring. She was a real sport about me doing the work in the utility room/kitchen that winter.
After the grinding was done I filled in with bondo, added the oversized rear tire and began putting it all back together.
This was one of the first softails to be produced and I believe Harley bought the concept from the manufacturer, although the softails today are very different from the one I had on this bike.
Photo #7a shows me back outside with the bike the next spring and about 3/4 done. I can remember how cool it felt to be sitting that low with the high-rise drawback handle bars. At this point all I knew was that the brake light worked and it looked cool. #7b is Goldie a little further on in the project, but doing the same thing.
