Used girder front end for sale driver#

Used girder front end for sale driver#

My brother worked as a truck driver then went to work for Animal Control in Sacramento. He used to work for a company in Lincoln called Kellisons, where he worked with fiberglass building bodies for dune buggies.

HB: How did all three of you go into business?Д«H: John was always into fabricating, from bucket Ts to motorcycles. My brother would end up spending a lot of time with John in his shop/garage, and he would take me up there to hang out and watch them work. They became good friends, and we turned John into a Harley guy. On the way back one time, my brother saw a guy broke down on the side of the road on a Triumph. He had more friends than anybody I ever knew.Д«H: My brother was a Harley guy, and he and his buddies would go to Angels Camp every year. He was a tough guy, willing to fight at the drop of a hat, but he had a soft side as well. Growing up he taught me the difference between making things clean or gaudy-like not putting too many decals on my model cars. Everything he had from hot rods to motorcycles was cool. I always looked up to him not just because heвЂ™s 12 years older than I am but because he was just cool. My brother, Harry, was and still is my hero. He could figure things out and had great problem-solving skills, and he could build just about anything he wanted. His talents were exceptional, especially when it came to fabrication. He had a great disposition of life and a great sense of humor. HB: What were John and your brother like?Д«H: John was a very likable guy. We ambushed Holland long enough to pump him for a look into chopper history. Bill now makes both the Harman girder front ends as well as full-on custom motorcycles 3 miles away from JohnвЂ™s original garage. His spirit continues on through his business partner, Bill Holland, who opened Executive Choppers in 2001. John Harman is no longer with us, having passed away in the 1980s. Back then the performance side of the shop was called Grand Prix racing. In вЂ™76, Harman started a style they called вЂњStreet Diggers.вЂќ They were basically chopperized drag bikes. John also had engine work going, including heads, flywheels, and cylinders. While John was dreaming up the next big thing, Harry Holland did the PR work while Bill fabricated the girder front ends. Unlike most home garage operations of the day, Harman had everything from a heli-arc welder to a flame cutter. Although HarmanвЂ™s shop was in a home garage in Roseville, California, it wasnвЂ™t a small operation. Frames, motor work, and a lot more came out of JohnвЂ™s in-home garage operation, including ground-up chops in the long, popular Northern California style that made its cultural mark back then. ThatвЂ™s just the tip of a much larger iceberg, though. The internally sprung girder was indeed a rolling moniker for John and his two partners, Harry and Bill Holland. His shop, known as H&H or Grand Prix Racing back in the вЂ™70s, wasnвЂ™t just a factory cranking out long front ends for choppers. Unlike the others, though, HarmanвЂ™s was real. Darth Vader had the force choke, Lone Ranger had his silver bullets, and John Harman had his famous internally sprung girder front ends. Words: Mark Masker, Photos: Courtesy of Executive Choppers and the Hot Bike/Street Chopper archives