Electra Glide In Blue

Stan the Iron Man Dishong was a true motorcycle legend here on the West coast.

He bought his first Harley in 1944 at age 16. He first raced on the salt flats of Bonneville in 1951 setting a short lived land speed record of 156 mph. This was the first year the Southern California Timing Association invited motorcycles and Stan was one of only 10 riders asked to participate.

He originally opened Stan’s Cycle in Vallejo as a BSA dealership in 1953 but he worked more with Harleys and Indians. Stan and Jackie’s house was three doors down from the shop and at some point the street was officially renamed Dishong St.

It was during this period that Stan raced his reputedly undefeated 1937 Indian Scout drag bike.

One of his many innovations was the first racing slick on a drag bike. He had the Pope Tire co. vulcanize a flat strip of rubber onto the rear tire of his Indian in July 1953.

He was probably best known for the Panhead engine he converted to overhead cam in the late 50’s. He successfully raced this engine in a bike he called the “Hog”. Stan raced at Lions Drag Strip in Long Beach, Kingdon in Lodi and the Nationals at Vaca Valley raceway in Vacaville to name a few.

Here’s an early version of the Hog at Kingdon drag strip, Lodi, 1957

In addition to Stan’s Cycle, he operated Dishong Manufacturing, a facility that made after-market parts for motorcycles.

Stan’s Cycle was filled with rare motorcycles and related memorabilia. He not only displayed the racing bikes he had built and raced, he also had some extremely rare antique bikes, originals and restorations of many different makes and models.

One of Stan’s customers in Vallejo was another racing legend; Burt Munro from New Zealand whose record setting runs at Bonneville were made into the movie “The World’s Fastest Indian”.

In 1987 he closed Stan’s Cycle in Vallejo and moved to Port Orford Oregon where they bought a 13 acre ranch and, for the next 15 years, Stan and Jackie restored many of his antique motorcycles.

Jackie passed away in 2002 so, together with his daughter Jeanette, he sold the ranch and opened the Antique Motorcycle and Auto Museum in August 2003.

Along with a few antique cars, guns and early electronics, Stan displayed 33 motorcycles. The oldest was one of the first motorcycles ever built in the United States; a 1896 Marks, built in San Francisco with serial #1, originally purchased as a basket case for $100.
Another rare bike was his 1934 Harley Speedway. Only 20 were originally built and only three or four remain in existence today.
Also on display, in no particular order; a 1903 Indian, 1911 Pope, 1914 Indian 8 valve Board Track Racer,. 1920 Indian Hill Climber, 1926 Indian Prince, and a 1928 Harley Factory Hill Climber.
In June 2006 Stan closed the museum in Port Orford and, due to declining health, moved to a suburb of Boise Idaho to be near his family.
A motorcycle collector/investor bought Stan’s motorcycles and sold many of them at the annual Mid-America Vintage Motorcycle Auction in Las Vegas the following January.
Stan Dishong passed away in January 2008. He not only preserved motorcycle history, he made motorcycle history.

This has been a welcomed guest post by Perry from the West Coast. Perry’s 1957 Pan was a featured Readers Ride on this site back in November of 2009.

Thanks Perry!

There were two brothers way ahead of the curve in the late 40′s. Harley Davidson didn’t offer hard bags for their motorcycles until 1952. “Royalite Plastic” bags first appeared on the 1952 “K” model Harleys and then on Big Twin models in 1954.

Back to the two brothers, Resto’s dad and brother came up with this mock-up and offered it to the Harley Davidson Motor Company sometime around 1949. The HD Motor Company decline the brothers hard bag idea, due to the effort and popularity they had in their leather bag line. Harley Davidson offered about five different leather saddle bags for 1950.

Back to the hard bags on the 1948 Panhead, the brothers Hand crafted these bags using Cadillac fender and bumper shapes as the core. Then incorporating the Caddy’s glove box door and lock. Restoman tells me, he remembers seeing these bags when he was a little kid, before his dad let someone talk him out of them. I wonder was that someone a young Arlen Ness?

You can click on the pic’s below to get a larger image. If you feel the need to share these please link back here to my site, or use the sharing buttons below. Thanks for dropping by, these are truly some rare photos from back in the day.

In 1957 Harley Davidson manufactured 5,616 big twin motorcycles. The FLH Super Sport Solo model came with the hand shift and only 165 were manufactured with an out the door price tag of $1,243. Here is one of 165 that is still on the road, thanks to people like Perry from the California Bay Area.

Perry found this bike through Walnecks after about six months of looking for a good buy on an old Harley. The bike came out of Oregon with a fresh engine and tranny rebuild and was about 80% complete when he bought it in October 2007. Perry tells me he didn’t get it up and running until February 2008. He does admit it’s nowhere to being a politically correct restoration with the mini ape hangers, or the Duo-Glide rear bumper, and he pointed out they didn’t have white wall tires until ‘58’.

I think Perry has one rare good looking old Harley. What do you think?

Some facts on the 1957 Hydra-Glide;
Models manufactured; 1,579 FL, 164 FLH, 1,259 FLF, and 2,614 FLHF.
1957 was the last year of the Hydra-Glide and the hard-tail frame.
New tank emblem is round Lucite disc, with 2 red and 2 silver quadrants with red “Harley Davidson” name. This and the new front fender tip was HD’s first use of plastic for emblems.
Steel alloy valve guides (starting February 1st), instead of bronze exhaust. The exhaust guides were threaded to trap oil. Polished aluminum rocker covers, shorter pushrods w/longer adjusters, thinner speedo cable. The “Big Bertha” saddlebags were optional for 1957 only.

Whenever I am doing anything to my 68 FLH, I wish I had just one of these guys to hand me a wrench and offer some Harley tech advice. This picture was taken back in late 1940, at the one and only, Harley Davidson Mechanic School, Milwaukee WI. Just look at the smiles on those faces. Hanging on the wall, to the far right is the cut-away of the newly introduced Harley-Davidson Panhead motor.

This photo was emailed to me from Restoman, his dad is the forth one from the right in the front row.
Ride Safe.