“It’s a 1930 Henderson that was customized before WW2 by a fellow called O. Ray Courtney and fitted with ‘streamliner’ bodywork. The art deco influence is obvious; legendary automotive designer Harley Earl could have drawn those curves. It’s all the more unusual because the mechanicals are hidden: even at the height of the Art Deco movement, most motorcycles were a triumph of form over function, with exposed cooling fins, brake drums and suspension springs. The bike is owned by collector Frank Westfall of Syracuse. It caused a stir in June 2010 when it appeared at the Rhinebeck Grand National Meet, a motorcycle show held a couple of hours drive north of NYC. Grail Mortillaro (of the chopper blog Knucklebusterinc) had a camera to hand, so we have him to thank for these images.”
Text/photos via CoolHunter.net. Additional photos via Google Image Search.
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Oooooooo, Frank Westfall is local to me! He has such an amazing collection of vintage and antique motorcycles. And the really great thing is, he actually breaks them out and rides them! Some of these bikes can, as he says, be pretty fragile, so many collectors would be tempted to keep them cooped up, but really a motorcycle needs toar be ridden to keep it in top shape. And a work of art goes to waste if no one can ever see it.
Here’s an article about a couple of long-distance races he’s done on his old motorcycles. Motorcycles aren’t like cars. It’s not obvious to people who don’t ride, but motorcycles are much more organic and personal. You experience the machine in a way you don’t with a car, when your weight and muscles become part of the mechanism to operate it (after a few hours of driving, boy, do you ever feel the acceleration in your forearms, because in most bikes the accelerator is in one of the handgrips).
And you have to be able to do at least some hands-on engine work yourself, especially on older bikes, because it can become necessary to do minor maintenance like adjusting and cleaning the chain pretty much anywhere.