[takehikes]

The AEE Covair Trike sold a few years back and ended up supposedly in LA and was to be restored. I could never make contact with the new owner at that time. I would like to find it and the owner and see how the restoration is coming along , if at all.
I figure if it's in LA someone must know where it is. I'd love to put info about it on my AEE web site and blog.

 

[Scavenger]

I have a magazine from 1968 that has it,,shows 2 different front ends on it though.

 

[takehikes]

started life with a modified HD springer (as in the picture) then later had our springer on it.

 

[Scavenger]

There was also a neat add for AEE helmet kit

 

[takehikes]

Tom wrote for cycle Guide and did the Corvair Trike for an article and put it in the Oakland Roadster show and won. He also had articles in Cycle Guide about his Mindbender knucklehead. These two bikes formed the genesis of AEE Choppers.

 

[Scavenger]

Did it get much use? or just more a show bike ?

 

[takehikes]

We had nothing that was a pure show bike. No trailer queens.
I saw every single bike we had on the street at one time or another. Some got more use than others. The Big Twin 5 wheeler got the least amount of use. The red SuperSport and the Purple Shovelhead got a lot of use. Early on the Mindbender got most of the use. The bike that ended up with probably the most miles on it was the yellow Sportster kit bike,it was a test and prototype mule big time. They all were to some extent but that one in particular had many incarnations and because of that got ridden. When I was at AEE we had 7-8 bikes in the show room all the time, it was quite the sight.

 

[Irish Rich]

Tom wrote for cycle Guide and did the Corvair Trike for an article and put it in the Oakland Roadster show and won. He also had articles in Cycle Guide about his Mindbender knucklehead. These two bikes formed the genesis of AEE Choppers.

Takehikes, you mentioned the Mindbender, and I always wondered what happened to that bike as well. As far as I've been told, it's supposed to still be in the L.A. area somewhere, too.

Can you tell me for sure (because I've been told this, too), wasn't this Watson-painted bike actually the base that McMullen built the Mindbender from?

 

[cycle cosmetics]

The AEE Covair Trike sold a few years back and ended up supposedly in LA and was to be restored. I could never make contact with the new owner at that time. I would like to find it and the owner and see how the restoration is coming along , if at all.
I figure if it's in LA someone must know where it is. I'd love to put info about it on my AEE web site and blog.

You should try contacting the Brothers of the Third Wheel. Maybe put an add in their newsletter. I'm sure one of them knows where that trike is.

 

[takehikes]

rich: Tom sold Mindbender while I was there, broke my heart let me tell you. I have never been able to run down who he sold it to. I remember seeing an older guy with a young woman with him the day it left. rumor was he was some rich German but who knows. Tom did shit all the time and no one knew what was going on. No doubt it was for cash and later that week it ended up on the tables in Vegas!
That Watson painted bike is not it. Tom bought his knuck from Ed Roth and it was fully chronicled from that day forward and never looked like that bike.

cycle: Great idea on the Brothers of the Third Wheel.

 

[CarlLaFong]

I was in Vietnam with the 1st Marines when the Corvair trike was being built. I got a hold of several issues of Cycle Guide showing the construction. The articles kept referring to the guys at AEE did this or that or whatever. The photos clearly showed the inside of the old D&D Cycles on San Fernando Road. When I got home, I bought a 57 Pan, the very next day. I ended up at D&D for something and asked Boyd DeFrance Sr. about the trike. He said that he did the lions share of the build, but Tom McMullen wanted him to give him a, considerable, break on the labor in exchange for free advertising. Boyd refused, said he didn't need the publicity since his business was taking off with D&D Distributors and, later, Jammer. So all of the build credit was given to AEE instead.

 

[that_stupid_kydd]

i love those 60's and 70's trikes

 

[Scavenger]

Wheres the oil tank ?? or is this a build photo ?

 

[Topher]

[/QUOTE]

This is one of the best looking bikes I have ever seen. I am absolutely in love with it. Thanks for putting this on here. If I ever figure out how, it will be my wallpaper.

C

Sorry for the highjack. Back to the regularly scheduled thread.

 

[njknucklehead]

Who bought the the other AEE trike on Ebay a few weeks ago???

 

[MeanMike]

If I'd of saw it when it was listed, it would have been me! I've been in love with that trike since I was knee high to a grasshopper.

 

[VonWegener]

Did you guys note the beautiful motorized colorwheel in front of the trike?
They weren't just for aluminum foil christmas trees.......
And those Goodyear BlueStreaks? Man everything about that trike is cool.

 

[VonWegener]

Larry Garmon bike in its first incarnation. Paint by Watson. My all time favorite -1963

 

[JLeather]

What kind of trans and rear did they use in that corvair trike, anyone know?

 

[Scavenger]

Corvair