by DaveC » Tue Jan 12, 2016 11:19 pm
A little history on the Pierce bike. I knew these guys (Wayne Sr. and Wayne Jr., also known as Pappy and the Whiz) fairly well. In the late 80's I had a job that took me to the Chicago area frequently and I learned about the bike in DeKalb (the "barb city", where barded wire was invented) via my HD contacts. They were gracious enough take pity on me as I was gathering parts for my 66 XLCH and a 57 XL restorations. I also had the privilege of meeting Harry Molenaar (a Hammond IN dealer founded in 1933, Harry knew all of the four HD founders and bankrolled the company in the great depression. Harry was in his 90's and didn't wear eyeglasses.) who was also very helpful in supplying parts for my two projects. They both were motorcycle bike and parts hoarders in the truest sense. Their parts and storage back rooms were sights to behold. The Pierces had the #2 1977 Low Rider, no miles.
The 57 XL #10 came to them as a chopper via a trade. They had enough parts on hand to do the restoration, which according to Pappy took a long week (after all of the paint, plating and motor assembly was complete) one winter to complete with all of the shop help. As I recall, all of the parts on the bike are OEM. They had enough OEM NOS and used parts to complete a second 57 XL and were trying to get me to sell them a motor. They also has a spare set of cases that Pappy stamped with the stamps that the factory sold to dealers way back when. I went over the bike in detail and they were aware of the choke issue. Had the knowledge of Scott, Roger, Jerry and Jacks bike been available, I'm sure the deviations from original as we see them today would have been corrected. Pappy told me about the single slotted rear fender brace screws.
As to a prior opinion, I have learned, quite painfully at times over the years to "never say never"