In 1974 I bought a 1951 stock Panhead that had been the "police" bike for several Arkansas towns. It was sold new to the Little Rock, AR police department by Richards HD (now Richards Honda). It slowly migrated north from small town to small town before it ended up sitting on the side of the road near the Missouri border with a For Sale sign wired to the handlebars. The special police equipment had been removed and somone had replaced the solo seat with a buddy seat. It was a 4 speed tank shift, rocker clutch model....foot shift didn't come out until 52. I paid $175.00 cash and rode it home. The bike was dingy white with the remains of police decals on the tank and fenders. It had the number "7" painted on the oil tank....a fleet number perhaps and a 1969 AR municipal license plate. I rode this bike in various forms for 15 years regretfully selling it in 1989 to pay some unexpected medical bills. It made annual trips from Arkansas to Daytona from 75-82 and Laconia in 77, all under its own power. I did 1000 miles in 24 hours on this bike and it never missed a beat....doing much better then I did since I couldn't feel my legs at the finish point. LOL! I made an attempt to find ether the whole bike or at least the number side of the engine case several years ago, but the bike has disappeared into someone's garage or the swap meet circuit. I rebuilt the motor twice, the last time taking it to 88 ci with S&S wheels. The 51 motor was an in between model and had some unique features such as hydraulic pushrods which I change for solids. It was a good bike, but it was never any faster then any other FL in the same condition. My biggest regret with this bike is that I don't have a single picture of it in any form. I went back into the Army in 82 and the many, many PCS moves took a toll on my pictures and all of the pictures of this particular bike have vanished.
Hank
Hank
