JERSEY JON: I love the trees down here.
Like the palmetto palms and all the live oaks
with all the Spanish moss. It's really picturesque.
ROB: You know, Jersey? JERSEY JON: What?
ROB: You're looking at trees
and I'm looking through the trees
to see what's on these properties.
JERSEY JON: I know, Robbie. You're just so visual. I get it.
(phone ringing) ROB: Well, you need to be visual. That's what your job is.
JERSEY JON: Yeah. Hey! ROB: What's up?
MIKE: Hey man, where you at? You in Florida, yet?
JERSEY JON: Yeah, we're in Florida. ROB: Right outside
of Daytona Beach. MIKE: Okay, great.
That's perfect because I need you guys to do me a favor.
Jersey, you know Steve Coe? JERSEY JON: Yeah!
He's been on like four or five Cannonballs with me.
MIKE: He lives outside of Daytona.
I was there years ago, man.
He sent me photos like six months ago
of some really nice 36 knuck heads
that I would love to have.
MIKE: If you guys are in the area, just pop by there.
He'd probably love to see you, Jersey.
JERSEY JON: I'd love to see Steve. I haven't seen him in a while.
MIKE: Alright, guys. See you in a few days.
JERSEY JON: Alright, later. ROB: Bye.
JERSEY JON: Six months ago? What the hell, dude?!
You gotta jump on this stuff when it happens!
JERSEY JON: These are 1936 knucklehead heads.
They are super rare and this dumb (bleep) is letting them sit there?
(laughing)
JERSEY JON: Alright, he texted back.
He says he's working on a project, he's out back.
Go through the metal gate, it's all good.
ROB: Alright.
JERSEY JON: Steve Coe is like a fixture
in the motorcycle community.
He's a mechanical wizard.
Me and Steve, we've been on the same transcontinental races
several times going across the country
from coast to coast on antique motorcycles.
I mean, they're really early bikes.
I took my 1911 Harley, belt drive, single cylinder.
When you take a bike like that, it's like riding
your lawnmower across the country.
They're underpowered, they don't go up mountains.
It's incredibly difficult to do.
And Steve, he's done it with me. It's a badge of honor.
There's a brotherhood. We got a lot of road in our blood.
ROB: Right here. JERSEY JON: Yeah, this is it.
There's a metal gate. Let's do it.
This place is cool, man!
JERSEY JON: Hello? Hello, hello, hello?
ROB: Any dogs in here you think? JERSEY JON: Be careful, bro.
ROB: I'm being careful.
Hello? JERSEY JON: Hello?
ROB: Hello? BARBARA: Hey!
What the (bleep)?
(Bleep)! (Bleep)!
MIKE: So, tell me more about this Servi-Car!
DANIELLE: Are you in Sacramento yet?
MIKE: I am already through Sacramento.
DANIELLE: Perfect. Well, I've been talking to Cathe
this morning. She's looking out for you, okay?
MIKE: So, you have no idea what year Servi-Car this is?
DANIELLE: All I know is it has three wheels,
and it's a Harley, and it's early.
MIKE: Okay. DANIELLE: Listen, I want you
to be surprised when you see it.
MIKE: Alright, well, I'll let you go.
I'll call you later and tell you how it went.
DANIELLE: Okay. Have a good day. MIKE: Alright, bye.
(knocking)
MIKE: Hey, you Cathe? CATHE: Hi. Yes.
MIKE: Hey, I'm Mike. You talk to Dani on the phone?
CATHE: Yes. Nice to meet you. MIKE: Here, I wanted to give
you one of these. She said you had a motorcycle but still...
MIKE: Anything connected to motorcycles too.
CATHE: Well, we've got some things for you.
MIKE: Okay. CATHE: My uncle was
Uncle Fernando and he had
a gas station in Oakland, California.
MIKE: She said it was a, um, a three-wheeler?
CATHE: Yes. MIKE: Okay, cool. Whose was it?
CATHE: It was my uncle's. MIKE: Okay.
Oh wow, you got it under a tarp.
CATHE: Well, it's special.
MIKE: Yeah. Can we pull it off?
CATHE: Sure.
MIKE: Whoa! What the heck is this?
No!
No way!
I've never seen anything like this.
ROB: Any dogs in here you think? JERSEY JON: Be careful, bro.
BARBARA: Hey!
What the (bleep)?
ROB: It wasn't a Rottweiler. It was a lady.
And she looked pissed.
JERSEY JON: How are you doing? I'm Jon.
BARBARA: Can I help you? ROB: Yeah, Rob.
JERSEY JON: Hey. I texted Steve.
Mike was talking to him. I texted--
BARBARA: Oh, he's back there. JERSEY JON: He's back there?
BARBARA: Yeah. Just go see him.
JERSEY JON: Hey, I'm Jon, by the way.
BARBARA: I'm Barbara. JERSEY JON: Barbara, nice to meet you.
ROB: Rob. JERSEY JON: Hey, thanks for letting us in.
BARBARA: Well, anybody walks through that gate, so...
JERSEY JON: Of course, yeah. BARBARA: Straight back.
JERSEY JON: Alright. ROB: Alright.
JERSEY JON: Steve!
ROB: Hey, Steve! JERSEY JON: Hey!
STEVE: Hey!
JERSEY JON: What's going on, Steve?
STEVE: Man. JERSEY JON: How you been, brother?
ROB: What's going on, buddy? JERSEY JON: Good to see you
again, man. It's been a long time, man! Woo!
ROB: What's going on, dude? STEVE: This is a buddy of mine.
JERSEY JON: Hey, how are you, man? DARREN: How are you doing, Jon?
JERSEY JON: I remember you guys from the swap meet.
This place is awesome. What's going on here?
STEVE: This is the way hillbillies do it.
JERSEY JON: 45 here? STEVE: Yep. Just building another one
just to take it out there for a pace bike
at the Sons of Speed thing I do. JERSEY JON: Oh right, cool!
STEVE: I started racing in 1987
at the Daytona Speedway.
I got hooked on that. Then I started just travelling
the whole country, doing the whole race circuit.
I had to go try out every track there is just so I could say
I been there and raced on it.
Never won a race.
Never won a race in my life.
I've come in second a few times, but I just enjoy
riding around, waving at everybody. Just being there.
STEVE: You got down here for bike week?
JERSEY JON: Well, I mean... Mike sent us down here.
ROB: Yeah. STEVE: Okay.
ROB: He said he talked to you like six months ago.
JERSEY JON: Six months ago, dude.
He said you had a set of '36 knuckleheads.
STEVE: Nah, I did, but believe it or not,
some floppy guy come and got them.
JERSEY JON: Ah, man! ROB: Really?
STEVE: It was laying out there.
STEVE: He paid me money for them, but...
I really didn't want to sell them,
but some stuff you got to let go.
ROB: Any other knuckle parts? STEVE: No.
There's a little bit of everything. There's everything.
JERSEY JON: I mean, we're here. You mind showing us around a little bit?
STEVE: Let me show you around, see what you like.
JERSEY JON: Alright, that'd be great.
STEVE: Darren, stay back and get that cup done.
DARREN: Alright.
MIKE: I've never seen anything like this.
No!
No way!
The engine. That's a JD.
Gosh!
She said it was a Harley Servi-Car,
which was a bike that Harley actually made,
but this is way earlier than that.
MIKE: Harley-Davidson started manufacturing motorcycles
in 1903.
By 1912, 1915, they were really honing in
on what the consumer was using their bike for.
There were sidecars back then, people were carrying stuff.
Both manufacturers, Indian and Harley,
were looking at that and realizing
that they could make something for the commercial market.
It was another revenue stream they could go down.
Harley-Davidson started manufacturing
the motorcycle truck with two wheels in the front
and a box in the center.
Harley also offered the package truck
which was a large box mounted like a sidecar.
MIKE: By 1931, Indian introduced the Dispatch Tow
and Harley wasn't far behind with the Servi-Car in 1932.
At that time, they really perfected
what these bikes should be,
two wheels in the back, and a box.
It was more stable with more weight.
The Servi-Car wasn't just used for commercial purposes,
it was also used by municipalities
like fire departments and police departments.
One of the industries that latched onto
all three of these designs over all of these years
were the gas stations and service garages.
MIKE: I mean, it's incredible!
CATHE: It's a 1921 Harley
that my uncle modified
for his business in Oakland, California.
MIKE: It's just so unique.
There's so many different things going on.
And I love the advertising.
CATHE: Uncle Fernando made it and added this whole part.
MIKE: I mean, it's crazy!
MIKE: Once I get past the excitement
of seeing the bike, then I'm drawn into
what they did to make something so unique,
so different, so one-of-a-kind.
MIKE: What year did they open the gas station?
CATHE: Sometime in the '30s.
MIKE: Well, that makes sense then, because there's different
parts here. The engine is a 1921,
but the fork is from the '30s. This is off a VL.
This is what they call an I-beam front fork.
This is a later front fender.
This is an Indian headlight, which is really interesting.
CATHE: Combination of... MIKE: Yeah, just a combination
of a bunch of different stuff.
MIKE: It's a 1921 Harley JD engine.
That's the first year for the Harley JD.
But then it's got a VL fork on it
which didn't come out until the 1930s.
And it's got an Indian headlight,
the handlebars have been cut down,
there's a brace put across them.
The front fender is also JD, but it's later.
MIKE: And then it's still got the original transmission in it.
It's got reverse on it, too.
MIKE: The tanks on the bike are JDH
and they're very narrow,
so I think they're JDH sport tanks,
which are very rare within itself.
MIKE: It's got car taillights on the back of it.
Look how elaborate this box is.
I mean, it looks like it was factory-made.
This is the original section of the frame,
this rear triangle, and they've welded these plates in
to reinforce the rear end of this thing.
MIKE: And then you start looking at the rear end of the frame
and how it's cut, there's plates in it.
MIKE: Obviously, they had to shorten it up.
Okay, I see what they got going on under there.
Oh my God, it's crazy cool.
He had the mind of an engineer the way he built this.
MIKE: All of this stuff has been repurposed
into something that he needed.
This was a utilitarian vehicle.
This wasn't just a custom job, a one-off for fun.
MIKE: This box right here, this is where the battery was.
CATHE: Okay. MIKE: So, you can see cables.
So it actually took like,
a battery the size of a car battery.
CATHE: That's crazy. MIKE: Yeah. No,
that's really cool. Gosh.
MIKE: There's so much that is impressive about it.
It's the quality of work, the craftsmanship,
the pieces that he chose to use.
MIKE: So you can see where they cut this fender
and rewelded it to fit it into this fork.
All of this is brilliant.
The way that the tow bar comes up,
mounts underneath that toolbox mount here.
The way that this arm is bent around the rocker
to clear that. I mean, it's really well thought out.
CATHE: He was a mechanic and a machinist.
MIKE: So, basically, he had the ability to build
exactly what he needed. CATHE: Yes.
CATHE: Fernando was a genius.
A self-made man who only had grammar school education.
MIKE: It's brilliant. And this isn't shade tree
mechanic stuff. I mean, he was very good
at manufacturing what he didn't have
or repurposing what he didn't have.
I mean, all of it coming together,
it's really a utilitarian masterpiece.
MIKE: It's unbelievable. I've never seen anything
this early with this cool advertising on it.
MIKE: I mean, the advertising is what's getting me too.
CATHE: Yeah. MIKE: They were selling Mobil products.
And here's the Pegasus horse on it.
That's stuff that people are trying to recreate now.
I mean, this is obviously all original.
I mean, it's such a time capsule. It's crazy.
MIKE: It's really difficult to say what year
he built this bike, but based on all the parts I'm seeing,
I would say it was built in the '30s,
right around the same time he opened the gas station.
MIKE: I think these were porcelain signs
that he cut because the back of it,
it just feels like there's a little bit
of porcelain on there. CATHE: Uh-huh.
MIKE: And so, they painted over something.
Even if you're not a motorcycle person,
you know, you look at this and you're like, wow,
that's from an old gas station. CATHE: Yeah.
MIKE: And that tells the whole story.
CATHE: Well, Mike, it sounds like you're really interested.
MIKE: Yeah, heck yeah. Yes, I'm very interested.
CATHE: The motorcycle was left to both
my sister and myself,
and I don't want to make any decisions without her.
MIKE: Absolutely. CATHE: Why don't I call my sister.
She just lives around the corner and I'll have her
bring all the memorabilia and different things she has on it.
MIKE: Okay. Yeah, thank you.
STEVE: We'd play pool in here twice a week
for the last 35 years. JERSEY JON: Wow!
ROB: What the heck?! JERSEY JON: This is great!
STEVE: For 15 years, I built houses in Palm Coast
and I'd keep all the wood left over on the jobs
and built this farm. I did motel demolition work
for years so every picture, every brick, every mirror,
every chandelier, I took all this stuff down out of a motel.
People think I'm rich, but it all come from dumpsters.
JERSEY JON: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, Steve, what is this?
STEVE: Oh, that's actually my hat.
There's 28 years of AMA badges on there.
JERSEY JON: That is killer.
STEVE: Every one of them was mine.
JERSEY JON: Ooh. It's a real Harley-Davidson hat.
STEVE: Oh yeah.
STEVE: I've had good racing luck.
I know hundreds of guys that raced
but none of them have had good luck to finish
every race they ran, and out of them 28 years,
every race I ever ran, I finished.
That's real good luck,
because that don't happen to everybody.
JERSEY JON: The Harley captain's hat,
it's like, iconic. All the badges
are just so cool on there.
STEVE: They're all real. Since '87.
STEVE: I'm out there, the only one out there smiling
and having a good time because all these racer guys,
they're all serious and they're wanting to win the race
and they did all this (bleep) to get there, and I'm out there
riding around waving at people because that's just me.
(laughs)
JERSEY JON: This is a big part of your history.
STEVE: Oh, it is. JERSEY JON: So, I'm not even going to ask.
STEVE: Yeah, I can't sell that. JERSEY JON: I get you, dude.
ROB: Hey, Steve. STEVE: Yeah?
ROB: What are these headlights off of?
STEVE: Oh, no, no, no.
ROB: I know a guy like Steve.
All these parts down here, they're untouchable.
Don't even ask about them because that's
the next project for him.
ROB: Steve, what's up here?
STEVE: Oh, car parts, bike parts.
ROB: But when I found the cubby hole,
I knew the game was on.
JERSEY JON: Man, it's hot up here!
JERSEY JON: This is the one opportunity that I'm gonna
be able to get into Steve's place.
He doesn't let anybody in here.
We're real lucky to be pawning around in here.
JERSEY JON: Whoa, whoa, whoa, these are cool.
Risers. Flanders risers. STEVE: That's real ones, yep.
JERSEY JON: Flanders risers raised your handlebars
to give your bike that quintessential chopper look.
JERSEY JON: Want to do something with these?
STEVE: Uh... maybe I'll take an offer on them.
JERSEY JON: Let me see what else you got going on up here.
JERSEY JON: Oh my God, look at these things, man!
Ron Finch. STEVE: Yeah, I know Ron.
JERSEY JON: He's a friend of mine.
JERSEY JON: Ron Finch is an amazing artist
and motorcycle enthusiast from Michigan.
He made these outrageous aftermarket parts
for choppers back in the '60s.
STEVE: I'm surprised you recognize all that old stuff.
JERSEY JON: Yeah. Old chopper stuff, man. This is good.
JERSEY JON: Big lights. They're like ten inches long.
JERSEY JON: Pawn lights they call them.
STEVE: Yep. They used to put them on trikes.
JERSEY JON: I've seen them on choppers too, you know.
But they're cool for the trikes. STEVE: I know.
JERSEY JON: What are you thinking on these?
STEVE: Make me an offer.
JERSEY JON: Anything that's connected with Ron Finch
is highly coveted in the chopper culture.
It's like underground chopper stuff.
JERSEY JON: For the pair? 400.
STEVE: You got it. JERSEY JON: Yeah?
See, that was too quick.
I should've offered you three! Alright, wait, wait, wait.
What about the dog bone risers?
STEVE: Nah, we're talking a different ballgame there.
JERSEY JON: No, come on! What kind of ballgame
are you talking about?
You love them too much, I can tell already.
STEVE: Yeah, that's because they're real.
JERSEY JON: This is an original pair of Flanders risers.
STEVE: There's a million aftermarket ones.
JERSEY JON: Yeah, I get it. What are you thinking?
STEVE: Five. JERSEY JON: Ooh. Five?
STEVE: That's a lot. That's the,
"I don't want to sell them" price.
JERSEY JON: I'll tell you what. I would go four.
Would you do four?
That's 800 for the pawn lights and the risers.
I'd do 400 each. STEVE: Yeah.
JERSEY JON: Man, this is great!
STEVE: You're one of the few to ever get to buy anything.
JERSEY JON: I get it. STEVE: That's because I know you.
JERSEY JON: Yeah, exactly. And I mean, we've been going
to swap meets together for how long?
STEVE: Forever. JERSEY JON: Forever. Since the '80s.
JERSEY JON: It's only because I earned Steve's respect
that he's allowed me to go up into his parts room
and dig through his stuff.
JERSEY JON: Thank you so much, my friend.
MIKE: I love your uncle's entrepreneurship
and heart of like, just putting all over the place
what he's doing. CATHE: Exactly.
MIKE: They sold Mobil products,
they were a service station.
Everywhere you look on the vehicle,
even on the gas tanks, the Pegasus is on the tank.
CATHE: Exactly.
MIKE: This was his calling card to the world
when he wasn't on his property.
When he left the gas station
to go on a towing call or a service call,
this is what people saw him on.
They saw his name, they saw the colors,
they saw the craftsmanship of this bike
and they understood that this guy
could build or fix anything.
MIKE: Look at this. This went on the front right here.
CATHE: Oh... MIKE: And bolted to there.
And then this clamped on a bumper.
See this C-shape here?
That would clamp on the bumper of a car.
And then they could pull it.
They could tow the car. That's amazing.
CATHE: My goodness. MIKE: Oh my God, look at how
that's all coupled together where it can be moving
in any way. So, Harley made something like this
where there was a bar that came up and folded forward.
So, they took this on and off and kept it in the box.
CATHE: Mike pulled out the tow bar
which we had no clue,
we didn't even know it was in there
because we haven't touched the bike.
MIKE: So, all the stuff that's in the back
of the box here, this was just always in here?
MIKE: There are so many things that he needed on a service call
that are still left here in the box.
There's a vice, there's rope, there's clamps.
These are all his tools. It's like her uncle
parked this vehicle decades ago and walked away.
Everything is here.
MIKE: Here's the beauty of riding something like this,
especially in Oakland. You know, it's a big city.
They can maneuver this around into different spots.
I mean you could actually ride this up onto a sidewalk.
CATHE: Exactly. MIKE: You know, and pull a car
away from the curb.
You could do anything you wanted with it.
I mean, this was a workhorse vehicle.
CATHE: It's very special. It's a family heirloom.
MIKE: It's incredible that you guys have kept it
all these years in the condition that it's in.
CATHE: Yeah. It's been under wraps since the late '60s.
CATHE: My aunt passed away in 1988.
That's when we moved it from Oakland, California
up to Sacramento.
We didn't advertise it. We didn't share it.
So maybe a handful of people even knew we had this bike.
MIKE: So, when's the last time it ran, then?
CATHE: In 1988 when we brought it up from the Bay Area.
MIKE: I mean, it's incredible.
Somebody has changed the front tire.
That's a Coker tire. CATHE: I believe my dad
changed the tire when we moved it up here.
MIKE: Okay. CATHE: It's time to find
a new home where it can be seen,
enjoyed, and respected.
CATHE: Our hope for this bike is to find a new life
with someone that loves it, but we want it to stay
the way it is today
and not to have it restored
so the memory of it can live on.
MIKE: To have anybody deface it by restoring it would be crazy.
And there are people out there that would do that.
MIKE: This motorcycle is a crossover piece.
People that collect antique motorcycles,
Harleys, advertising collectors,
especially petroliana collectors,
are gonna love this bike.
It's really a piece that hits on all cylinders
if you're into transportation history.
(phone chiming)
STEVE: 1939 Pujo. You don't see them every day.
ROB: I can run faster than that, I think.
STEVE: Oh, I know. (laughter)
JERSEY JON: Your brother is blowing my phone up, man.
ROB: Let him stew on it. JERSEY JON: Yeah, he's...
Look, there's five texts already from him.
ROB: What's up with the drag racing stuff?
STEVE: Oh, that's the stuff I built back in the '70s.
JERSEY JON: You built this?! STEVE: Oh, that's all homemade.
JERSEY JON: He puts together these outrageous vehicles.
He's got a v8 engine in a Harley chassis.
I mean, this guy is off the hook.
STEVE: That Chevy-Davidson was built out of a 1970
Camarro motor. It's a 350-horse motor.
It's kind of from E.J. Potter.
JERSEY JON: Yeah, the Michigan Madman!
ROB: Yeah. STEVE: Yep. He had one
and I kind of wanted to copy his thing,
but I did mine in the '70s. He did his way before me.
JERSEY JON: Yeah.
ROB: So, my brother bought two of the E.J. Potter bikes
STEVE: Oh, he did?
ROB: Yeah, and they're both in a museum in Utah now.
STEVE: Oh, man. JERSEY JON: Isn't that cool?
STEVE: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
STEVE: E.J. Potter, he just kicked his off a kickstand.
He didn't have a clutch. He'd just hold it wide open
and took off smoking the tire.
STEVE: That Chevy-Davidson drove so nice,
I made a street bike out of that.
(laughter)
STEVE: I did mine different. I put a clutch
and four-speed trans on mine,
so you could drive it on the street.
JERSEY JON: This is a badass street bike, dude.
JERSEY JON: Imagine going down the road with this thing?
STEVE: 350 horsepower. JERSEY JON: Unbelievable!
STEVE: Yeah. ROB: This guy's a craftsman.
I mean, he is going over the top on this stuff.
STEVE: Let me show you some more.
JERSEY JON: Yeah, I'd love to see it. Woo!
MIKE: So, this has a Model A rear end in it.
So, it's got the rear end out of a car
from that time period, the '30s,
and they've cut it down. So, it was like this wide
for a car. They've cut it down this narrow.
MIKE: Being an antique motorcycle collector
and really dissecting the way this bike was put together,
I feel like I'm getting to know her uncle.
The craftsmanship, why he chose the pieces and parts
that he did, it's brilliant. It's a masterpiece.
Obviously, it was utilitarian.
It was something that serviced his business.
But man, looking at it so many years later,
it's a piece of art.
MIKE: God, it's so clean. (honking)
CATHE: That's my sister. MIKE: Hey. Nice car.
LINDA: Thank you.
CATHE: Did you bring all the goodies?
LINDA: Where should we start?
MIKE: Hey, I'm Mike. LINDA: Hi, I'm Linda.
MIKE: So, all of this is connected to the gas station?
LINDA: Oh yeah, all of this was for Fernando.
CATHE: She's done a lot of the research,
and it was actually stored at her garage for many years.
So, she's got a really deep connection to it.
MIKE: So, what does this say?
LINDA: Oh, that was the Mobil banner.
That's one of them.
MIKE: Okay. Wow, this is really cool.
LINDA: In 1928, Guidi Motor Service
existed in Oakland, California.
At the time, it was a Gilmore station.
Eventually it transitioned to a Mobil station.
LINDA: Now, this goes back to the Gilmore days.
MIKE: Oh, they had a different brand other than Mobil.
LINDA: Yeah. He was a Gilmore. MIKE: Oh yeah!
LINDA: See? MIKE: Oh man!
LINDA: Go with the roar? MIKE: Oh my gosh, look at that.
LINDA: Uh-huh.
MIKE: It was a southern California brand.
Gilmore started in the early 1900s
and ran until 1943
when Mobil bought Gilmore Oil Company.
There's a tremendous amount of Mobil stuff around,
but very little Gilmore.
Anything Gilmore, the glass globes, the signage,
all that stuff is so rare, and it's big money.
MIKE: So, do you guys remember the service station being open?
CATHE: No, that was before our time.
MIKE: Okay.
LINDA: In the '50s, I believe,
is when it ceased to exist.
That's... that's all I know.
MIKE: I love these.
MIKE: The photographs are so important
to piecing this story together.
MIKE: The top of this fender,
the top of the front fender was a cream color at one time
and then there was a lion here,
the Gilmore lion was there where the Pegasus is now.
LINDA: Okay. MIKE: It said Gilmore here,
but they changed this to their address.
This said Gilmore and then lubrication there,
and then obviously, there was a line here.
So they rebranded the whole vehicle at one time.
MIKE: There was a lion painted on the tank.
It said Gilmore on the fender skirts.
But when Mobil took over Gilmore in like 1943,
they painted over the lion
and put a Pegasus horse on there.
MIKE: You can see right here,
see on the top of the fender is white?
LINDA: Yeah, yeah. MIKE: And look, there's no horn either.
LINDA: Okay, yeah. MIKE: There's no horn on it.
So they added the horn and then they painted it red.
You know, it's just interesting to me.
LINDA: It evolved. MIKE: To see the evolution
of it, yeah, with their business. 'Cause these are shot in 1940.
LINDA: Right. MIKE: Which is, I mean,
unbelievable. I'm just wondering
where they got a taxidermy lion!
(laughing) Look at this one photo.
LINDA: It was the Bay Area. MIKE: I mean, it's like literally sitting.
LINDA: I know! MIKE: It's just unbelievable.
LINDA: Yeah. MIKE: These photos aren't just
somebody snapping them with a Brownie camera.
I mean, they're professionally shot,
they're like studio photos. They're beautiful.
They're really detailed.
They really tell the story of this motorcycle
and this business, and how they're tied together.
LINDA: Now, there's a patch
that would've been from the Mobil.
MIKE: Okay. LINDA: There's a metal
piece of Gilmore. MIKE: That's a license plate topper.
These are bookends. Oh my gosh.
They're just so majestic. LINDA: A fountain pen.
MIKE: Fernando Guidi. "In recognition of over 15 years
friendly business relationship."
MIKE: The bookends, the pen holder,
all these bits and pieces add to an incredible story.
MIKE: This is your aunt and your uncle here.
LINDA: Yeah. And there he is, see?
MIKE: Chopping wood. LINDA: Uh-huh.
He was a hardworking man. MIKE: Oh my God, absolutely.
LINDA: That was their house in Oakland.
There you go, that's at the Columbo Club,
which was an Italian organization.
MIKE: Yeah. LINDA: My Aunt Annette
and Fernando, right there. MIKE: Okay.
LINDA: Fernando was born in 1901
and he arrived in the United States from Italy
in 1905 with his mother and siblings on a ship.
They joined the father of the family in Oakland,
and the father worked as a blacksmith at the time.
LINDA: Oh! The original license plate.
MIKE: Oh, '56. Okay. That's very cool.
LINDA: Yeah. My Aunt Annette,
she would register it every year.
MIKE: No kidding? She kept it registered?
LINDA: Yep. Yep. MIKE: Wow.
LINDA: At that time, it was sort of passe in our family
and was in their basement, covered over,
and he was a very, very quiet, soft-spoken man.
Didn't like to brag or talk about himself.
And so, it sort of went unnoticed for a long time.
MIKE: This is registered 1990. LINDA: Mm-hmm, yeah.
MIKE: Why do you think it was important for her
to register it every year?
LINDA: Because it meant something to her.
They married in '63. He died in '82.
LINDA: My aunt passed away in 1988,
and at that point,
Cathe and I inherited her belongings.
LINDA: I found in her,
she had pictures of him in her wallet.
So, I mean, they... CATHE: It was a second marriage
for both of them. No children.
MIKE: Mm-hmm. Neither of them ever had children?
CATHE: No. MIKE: The station is gone,
their uncle is gone.
All that remains is this motorcycle,
and they don't want that story to end here.
ROB: Steve. JERSEY JON: This is cool. What is that?
ROB: That's a dodgem.
STEVE: Yep. That's a real dodgem.
I got all the trim and everything. That's cool.
JERSEY JON: What is it, Robbie? ROB: It's a bumper car.
JERSEY JON: Bumper car? STEVE: Electric car.
ROB: These are the most art deco ones they ever made.
This has all, like, original paint.
STEVE: Yep. It is still original.
ROB: How long has it been sitting there?
(exhales) STEVE: 25 years.
ROB: These dodgem cars, we have bought these things before,
but they have to be complete.
When they're complete, they're the most magnificent
piece of artwork you've ever seen.
ROB: So, is that something you want to sell?
STEVE: I might take offers on it.
ROB: All the trim is where?
STEVE: Yep, inside that box right there.
There's no drivetrain to it at all.
ROB: Right, but do you have the base piece?
STEVE: Nope. ROB: Yeah, because basically
what they're doing out in California,
they're turning these into street machines.
STEVE: Yeah, they're really cool.
JERSEY JON: Seriously? STEVE: Some guys will take them
and put go-kart motors in them or motorcycles in them.
They make them street legal and they look really cool.
They flame them all out and make them look like
some old car. And so, I thought I'll do that
with one of them, but I never did.
ROB: Let me ask you this before I go digging it out.
STEVE: Alright. ROB: If you have all the pieces to it?
STEVE: Yep.
He's thinking.
ROB: $1,300.
STEVE: I think you got it. ROB: I want to know
if all the stuff's there, though.
JERSEY JON: If the stuff's all there.
JERSEY JON: See, we gotta dig it out of there.
STEVE: Grab that plane out there.
ROB: Steve said this thing's complete.
Before I commit 100%,
I gotta know if all the parts are here.
ROB: Okay. Hold on.
ROB: I'm going to put this on a golf cart body.
ROB: It says Dodgem right here.
ROB: Or what I call a side-by-side.
That's what they're doing with these things.
ROB: Here's a seat.
ROB: Basically, build it out
so it looks like a bumper car,
but it's street legal.
ROB: I love the paint on it.
JERSEY JON: The paint is freaking killer, man.
STEVE: I got this. There you go.
JERSEY JON: This is the seat? The back?
ROB: Hold on here.
That looks like it might've gone to that somewhere.
That's an inside piece. STEVE: Yep, that's an inside piece to match it.
ROB: That's a steering mechanism.
ROB: Those are the side plates. JERSEY JON: That's cool.
ROB: You got a steering wheel.
ROB: I got to dig out all the pieces.
Steve keeps saying it's all here.
I'm not seeing it, buddy. I'm just not seeing it.
ROB: It says Dodgem right here.
The most I've ever sold one of these cars for
was probably like 3,500 bucks.
But that's with all the... STEVE: All the stuff.
ROB: The jewelry on it. That's what I'm trying to say here.
The trim is the key to this thing.
STEVE: Yeah. ROB: There's your front.
If you're missing the trim pieces, it's like...
STEVE: Well, if you're trying to put it back all original,
you need all that trim. But if you just want to make it
look cool, you can make your own.
ROB: There's one. There's two.
ROB: They had aluminum art deco headlights.
The grill, the lights,
the little pieces, the stainless.
ROB: This is one light. STEVE: Right.
ROB: Now, the other light's missing on this side.
JERSEY JON: Right. ROB: And then this emblem
that goes right here...
ROB: All these things make a big difference,
because you're not going to find it,
and if you don't find it, you gotta make it.
ROB: We got the seat, the body, and the partial on the trim.
ROB: I'm not Steve. I'm Robbie.
I can't make that (bleep).
ROB: I was at 1,300 if it was complete.
STEVE: Right. ROB: Yeah. So...
(exhales)
ROB: I'm only finding about 30% of the car here.
There's no way I can pay $1,300.
JERSEY JON: Missing a lot. STEVE: Yeah.
ROB: 400 bucks.
STEVE: Hmm...
ROB: It's missing a ton. STEVE: I know it is.
JERSEY JON: Yeah, his mustache is twitching, dude.
STEVE: Yeah. (Jersey Jon laughs)
ROB: It's got some pluses to it but it's got more minuses
than it does pluses.
STEVE: That's been sitting there for years. I said hell,
nobody else is ever going to want that thing.
STEVE: How about five?
ROB: How about four and a quarter?
STEVE: Aw man. 450.
ROB: I took it, I dug it out. I'm not gonna leave you hanging.
JERSEY JON: I like it, Robbie. ROB: Yeah.
MIKE: This story is a large investment with anything.
I don't care if you're collecting antique toys,
furniture, an oil painting, whatever it is,
a story is just as powerful as the piece itself.
So, to me, the story is unbelievable
just looking at it, because it's so untouched.
All the generations and the decades
and everything that happened in the world,
this vehicle was never affected by that.
LINDA: That's right. MIKE: You guys have embraced it for that long.
LINDA: Absolutely. MIKE: To where you didn't want to touch it.
I think that's unbelievable. And you've got
great documentation, you've got photographs.
I mean, I'm totally interested in it.
MIKE: The reason that it's untouched
is because they wanted to honor their uncle.
They wanted to leave the bike exactly the way they left it.
And now they've gotten to a point
where they want people to see it and just be like,
wow, inspired. I'm inspired by the bike.
I look at it and I think about a guy just starting out
and making something from nothing.
He had to make something that was going to serve his business
and serve the community, and he did such a great job
that it's lasted all of these years.
MIKE: Has anybody ever made you guys an offer or anything?
CATHE: Um, not an offer.
I have good friends that are in the antique business
and um, they did some research for me.
MIKE: Okay. CATHE: And...
I got some numbers together.
MIKE: I mean, what did they feel it was worth
in this condition like this?
CATHE: Anywhere from 40 to 144. is what they were...
MIKE: Okay. LINDA: Because how do you put a price on this?
There's nothing else like it.
MIKE: Well... You can put a price on it by
auction results, you can put a price on it
by something from the same time period.
Someone that like, would say this is worth $140,000
makes me think that they really don't know
exactly what they're looking at,
because that is a huge margin.
There was one similar to this in regards to like,
advertising wise that was Packard cars
that just sold within the last couple years.
So, imagine like a Harley Servi-Car,
original paint with Packard Cars advertising Packard.
LINDA: Got you. MIKE: Okay, that sold
at auction for...
$45,000.
CATHE: Okay. MIKE: And that's, to me,
the reality of it, you know what I mean?
When you advertise big auction
and put something in it, then it's out in front
of God and everybody. LINDA: Right.
MIKE: That's what the hammer price was.
LINDA: Right. Got you.
MIKE: This is even a little bit hard for me to put a value on it
because this is all homemade.
But I've been around the antique motorcycle world
for 40 years,
and I understand what a Harley JD is,
I understand what a VL frontend is,
I understand what an Indian headlight is,
and I understand what he had to do to make this bike.
It's custom. To me, the story is the powerful thing
that moves this. How do you put a price on that?
How do you put a price on a piece of art
when so many different people can look at it
in so many different ways?
MIKE: I think the way it sits,
like this, it's a...
$40,000 vehicle.
I mean, maybe at an auction, might pull 45.
LINDA: See, you're looking at it from, you know,
the mechanical kind of...
And I'm looking at it from the heart.
MIKE: Yeah. LINDA: Because it represents Fernando.
MIKE: Absolutely. LINDA: To me, it's a part
of my aunt and uncle. And uh...
they're gone now and I just...
I know how much it obviously meant to both of them,
and it just... I, um...
I appreciate that. And I want to keep them close
and cherish it as much as they did.
MIKE: I know it's important for you guys
to have someone that'll take care of it
the way your family has,
but also I think it's important that people see it.
I'm imagining it being back on the road.
LINDA: Well, that would be amazing.
MIKE: I mean, truly. Well, that's doable.
It's very straight. I mean, let's see...
Listen to the compression of the thing.
(clunking)
And I checked the inside of the tanks.
LINDA: Mm-hmm. MIKE: You know, it's been stored properly.
LINDA: Good. MIKE: There's been no fluid. It's beautiful.
MIKE: I love everything about it. I mean, really,
it speaks to me on so many different levels.
Um, you know, I ride stuff like this,
and then with me, with my sidecar bike,
people are amazed when I put it in reverse
and I just back up on it. They're just like,
"What the heck is that?" They've never seen a motorcycle
go backwards before, you know?
So, it's got all that going for it.
MIKE: Um...
Here's where I'm at with it.
I think it's worth...
between 40 and $45,000.
That's what I think it's worth.
Um...
I'd do like 35 on it.
STEVE: Let me show you this homemade car I built over here.
JERSEY JON: Homemade? ROB: Homemade car?
STEVE: '53 Corvette is what I copied.
ROB: What do you mean you copied it?
JERSEY JON: Whoa, man! Look at this thing.
STEVE: I always wanted an old Corvette like that
but they're so pricy I can't afford them,
so I decided to just build my own.
STEVE: 17 months I spent on this.
ROB: So, where's the mold to this?
STEVE: There ain't a mold. This is shot with a glass gun.
Like you build a boat.
ROB: I cannot believe that Steve built this.
The body is all built by hand.
He had to shave it down.
It is absolutely 100% perfect.
There is not a flaw in it anywhere.
JERSEY JON: The Coevette. ROB: Yeah, Coevette.
JERSEY JON: Love it. STEVE: The only one.
JERSEY JON: How many horsepower? STEVE: Probably close to 1,000.
ROB: Whoa. JERSEY JON: Jeez!
STEVE: Gotta hear this thing. Want to hear it?
JERSEY JON: Yeah! You can start it up?
(engine roars)
ROB: When he started it, it scared the crap out of me!
I mean, no one thought that sound
was gonna come out of that thing.
Oh, I was like, "Whoa!" I jumped
because you don't think you're going to hear that.
And the fact that he made it street legal.
(revving)
JERSEY JON: Woo! This is crazy.
(laughing) STEVE: Yeah, but I still got some more here.
I got another bike I just built here last year.
MIKE: I think it's worth between 40 and $45,000.
I'd do like 35 on it.
Because... you're gonna want it to run.
Whoever's gonna want to buy it and slam down the cash on it,
value-wise, running has a lot to do with it.
That's not a huge expense
unless you run into something that's...
that's an issue.
But I mean, from what I can see,
I don't see anything.
I mean, obviously, I can't, I don't have a crystal ball.
LINDA: Being in California, you're not going to have
all that rust and degeneration.
MIKE: No, it's the condition of it when I was crawling
underneath it, I mean, there's not even any dirt
underneath the fender wells. (Linda laughs)
CATHE: Yeah, I believe that. MIKE: Yeah.
CATHE: He was so tidy. LINDA: He was impeccable.
MIKE: And here's the deal. It's like, if this worth
$100,000, I would tell you in a second. In a second.
LINDA: It's just special.
LINDA: It's a work of art.
It's not just, you know, a motorcycle.
LINDA: How do you put a price on Mona Lisa,
or the Birth of Venus, you know? I mean...
LINDA: I know what kind of person Fernando was,
and I know that that probably was his baby.
I mean, he had no children of his own and so,
you know, he gave everything he had to that.
MIKE: There's no one that's ever going to be
as close to this vehicle as you guys.
This is part of your family's heritage.
LINDA: But it is one-of-a-kind.
MIKE: There's a lot of things that are one-of-a-kind.
LINDA: Okay, but... MIKE: This is Harley-Davidson,
and that's what takes it to the next level.
LINDA: I see. MIKE: The Harley is not
one-of-a-kind, but what they did to it is.
LINDA: That's right.
MIKE: I understand how they're approaching it
from a completely different perspective
because they're emotionally connected to this piece
that has been in their family for generations
and it's really the beginnings of their family
in this country. I understand all that
and I take that to heart.
MIKE: Yeah, you guys, I mean,
I would love to own it, but um...
I mean, it just sounds like we're way too far apart.
MIKE: I would love to be the guy that put it back on the road,
to tell the story of it, to move it forward,
but you know, if we can't come together on it,
then it wasn't meant to be.
LINDA: Well, we're glad that you like this antique,
this piece of art.
MIKE: I understand what it is,
and I do understand
what it means to you guys too.
LINDA: Well, you said you're intention with this
is to get it running. MIKE: Absolutely.
LINDA: Okay. MIKE: To ride it.
LINDA: To ride it. CATHE: Why let it just
sit in a storage unit where,
you know, who's looking at it? Who's enjoying it?
It's not out there. It's not being loved by everybody.
LINDA: Yeah. CATHE: You're just gonna
leave it in storage forever?
MIKE: Well, what are you guys thinking numbers-wise?
Both of us have to feel comfortable with the deal.
If either of us feel uncomfortable,
then there shouldn't be a deal.
CATHE: I feel comfortable at 45.
MIKE: 45? The high mark, the high mark of it?
LINDA: Yeah, I agree.
MIKE: The thing that speaks to me the most about this bike
is the advertising.
And the fact that they have the photographs.
The photographs are the key ingredient
to the recipe of why this is so incredible.
MIKE: I'll tell you what, I'd come up five grand.
I'd do 40 on it.
I mean, I really feel like...
I'm being honest in regards to what I feel
the value is. You know, I really am.
MIKE: It's one thing to look at the bike and admire it
just like this, but imagine if the bike ran
and people can enjoy it whether it's at Motor Alley
or any kind of museum setting
just so it's somewhere where people can appreciate it
and hear its story.
(sighs) LINDA: Gosh...
Well, I've said my piece, I think.
CATHE: Yeah.
CATHE: I felt very comfortable with Mike,
and I felt that it was time to let it go.
MIKE: Are we doing it? CATHE: We're doing it.
MIKE: Okay, we're doing it. CATHE: 40.
MIKE: We're doing it.
Okay. Thank you guys.
MIKE: They know the only way to keep that story alive
is to move the bike forward,
let people talk about it.
When they see the photograph
and they see the bike,
and they see it up and running,
it's alive, that story is also.
MIKE: Thanks for sharing your family's story with me.
LINDA: The joy that that motorcycle brings
to anyone that sees it.
MIKE: Thank you, guys! CATHE: Safe travels!
LINDA: That's a nice thing to be able to share
with the rest of the world.
(honking)
STEVE: Yeah, this is something I just threw together last year.
JERSEY JON: Whoa, look at this thing!
JERSEY JON: This is a twin-engine Harley 45
that Steve just put together.
JERSEY JON: This is crazy!
STEVE: Stop me, somebody stop me!
ROB: I got you, I got you. STEVE: I need brakes.
JERSEY JON: This is not the first time
that there's been twin-engine racers,
but this one's super special.
ROB: That's two 45.
JERSEY JON: Yeah, two 45 motors.
STEVE: Yep. ROB: He put two V twin-engines
in this bike.
STEVE: There's hundreds of double engine bikes out there.
JERSEY JON: Right. ROB: Okay.
STEVE: They all time them where these two cylinders fire
and these two cylinders fire.
JERSEY JON: So, it goes boom, boom, boom, boom.
STEVE: That puts twice as much pressure on your chain.
You got a primary chain made for one motor,
and now you got two, and it starts snapping
the chains because you got two motors banging on it.
JERSEY JON: So, how'd you beat that?
STEVE: I put these motors 180 degrees out from each other.
So, this cylinder fires,
and before it even has time to fire this cylinder,
this one fires. ROB: Okay.
STEVE: So, now it goes one, three, two, four.
JERSEY JON: So, it smoothed it out?
STEVE: I made a four-cylinder out of two two-cylinders.
JERSEY JON: Damn! STEVE: A poor man's four-cylinder.
JERSEY JON: That's brilliant! (laughs)
ROB: A poor man's four-cylinder. JERSEY JON: I love it, man.
STEVE: By doing that, I'm convinced that's why
this thing starts in one kick every time.
STEVE: It's all experimental.
I didn't even know if it'd run or even drive, nothing.
(engine starts)
JERSEY JON: It starts up on the first kick.
You can't do that with a normal 45.
It blows me away. That's a cold start.
(engine revving)
STEVE: It amazes me every time it does it, because it's like magic.
I can't believe it does that, but it does.
ROB: The quality of this guy's work is mind-blowing.
Steve is the epitome of the cover of Easy Rider.
JERSEY JON: Steve. ROB: Dude.
JERSEY JON: Congratulations, man.
JERSEY JON: It sounds wonderful.
ROB: I love it. STEVE: I love it.
(laughs) JERSEY JON: So, is this something you would sell?
STEVE: Not yet. It's a new toy.
JERSEY JON: Buddy, thank you so much
for letting us tour your world. ROB: Yeah.
JERSEY JON: Knowing Steve all these years,
I've always got to just see the result
of what he's created.
But here, I get to see the process
and that's super special.
STEVE: As soon as you guys leave, I'll be back out there
in the garage doing some more on that bike. Something I do.
(honking) ROB: See you at the races!
STEVE: Alright, man. You guys keep the rubber side down.
(phone rings)
ROB: Who is it? JERSEY JON: Your brother.
ROB: Oh jeez. What up, brother?
JERSEY JON: What's up? MIKE: What the hell?!
I've been trying to text you guys all day.
ROB: I know that. JERSEY JON: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
ROB: We were busy. MIKE: Busy?
You guys are on a pick that I sent you on!
What's up with the knucklehead?
JERSEY JON: Are you kidding me? (laughs)
JERSEY JON: Dude, you can't let a lead like that
sit around for six months and expect it to be there.
Come on! ROB: I'll tell you what.
The twin-engine 45 that he just finished.
JERSEY JON: Yeah, that thing is bad to the bone.
ROB: Unbelievable. MIKE: Wow, that sounds nuts!
JERSEY JON: Yeah. ROB: It was crazy.
MIKE: Well, I just bought a 1921 Harley-Davidson
custom made three-wheeler.
It's basically a Servi-Car before Servi-Cars.
ROB: Wow! Are you kidding me?
JERSEY JON: So, it's like a homemade Servi-Car?
MIKE: Check your texts, dude! I sent you pictures!
You're going to freak! ROB: Hey, brother.
I got a question for you. MIKE: Yeah?
ROB: You got any 12-month-old leads we can follow up on?
(laughing)
MIKE: Whatever.
ROB: Love you! JERSEY JON: Alright, bro. I'll catch you later.
ROB: See you. MIKE: Later.