From: Mark Gibson (MGibson@hughesarchitects.com)
Date: Wed Jan 14 2004 - 14:00:15 PST
Well, guys, I hate to say it, but I agree with the owner. There are a
lot of these bikes in museums and in collectors hands that show what
they looked like in the war. As long as he hasn't chopped the thing up,
I don't see anything wrong with tricking it out a bit. As a long time
Harley owner, I know that a large part of the culture of these
motorcyles is wrapped up in the personalization that we give to them.
And his point was a good one, since the bike was never a war bike,
turning it into one would have been just as bad (or good) as what he did
with it. At least it is in good shape and has a long life ahead.
Mark
-----Original Message-----
From: Ryan M Gill [mailto:rmgill@mindspring.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2004 4:46 PM
To: Military Vehicles Mailing List
Subject: Re: [MV] HMV Sacrilege Travesty Abomination (pick one)
At 9:56 AM -0500 1/14/04, Ron wrote:
>Go to:
>
>http://www.i2itelevision.com/abikeisborn/harley.php
>
I sent the producers an e-mail of the following
and got a response in a few hours.
>From: Ryan Gill [mailto:rmgill@mindspring.com]
>Sent: 14 January 2004 18:24
>To: info@i2itelevision.com
>Subject: Civilianized Military Harley
>
>
>I can't believe your program destroyed a historic
>military vehicle. Mark should have restored it to
>it's original specification as a military bike.
>There aren't many out there and they need to be
>restored not destroyed. A project like this is
>tantamount to putting neon lights on the front of
>Big Ben or the Tower of London after painting it
>Neon Pink!
>
>Shame!
Here's what I got back just a few minutes ago..! Kind of funny actually.
>Ryan
>
>I think I can guess from your Ferret / Dingo/Humber logo where you are
>coming from but can I disabuse you of a few things
>
>Firstly it was probably never a military vehicle over half of the
>90,000 built bikes were released into the civilian market as they were
>surplus to needs, many thousands more were abandoned in their theatres
>of war or sold to local dealers. Civilianising these machines started
>in 1945 and has been part of the history of harley davidson ever since.
>
>secondly when we got it it had been turned into a police bike and used
>in the film Evita
>
>Thirdly there are thousands left, some, military many more civilianised
>
>Fourthly - nothing has been destroyed, it's had a coat of paint a bit
>of chrome and all the mechanics restored to mint condition - far from
>destroying it we have ensured it's survival for another 60 years. The
>editor of the classic Bike Guide thought it the best WLC restoration he
>had ever seen. The bike never had any original detailing like blackout
>rear lights or panniers or a machine gun holder, we could have gone
>down the route of making fake military parts for it but I think that's
>pretty crass. However a new owner could easily militarise it for a cost
>of less than £500 should they so wish.
>
>Fifthly - It's my bike and so we did it my way
>
>Thanks for your interest
>
>K
-- -- ---------------------------------------------------------------- - Ryan Montieth Gill '01 Honda Insight - - rmgill@SPAmindspring.com '85 CB700S - - ryan.gill@SPAMturner.com '76 Chevy Monte Carlo - - www.mindspring.com/~rmgill '72 Honda CB750 - - '60 Daimler FV701H Mk2/3 - - '42 Daimler Scout Car Mk II - - I speak not for CNN, nor they for me - ---------------------------------------------------------------- - The director of Home Security encourages you to - - turn in your neighbor & spy on your friends. - ---------------------------------------------------------------- - C&R-FFL / Protect your electronic rights! \ EFF-ACLU - - SAF & NRA/ Join the EFF! http://www.eff.org/ \ DoD #0780 -----------------------------------------------------------------
=Mil-Veh is a member-supported mailing list= To unsubscribe, send e-mail to: <mil-veh-off@mil-veh.org> To switch to the DIGEST mode, send e-mail to <mil-veh-digest@mil-veh.org> To reach a human, contact <ack@mil-veh.org>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat May 07 2005 - 20:28:01 PDT