1961 HD Survivor Panhead Chopper
So imagine if you will, you put everything into building your own Panhead chopper and after riding it in events all over the country you discover that an iconic piece of your home town chopper history, an original 70s era bike built right down the street from you has surfaced after decades of being pushed into the corner of a garage. A true survivor that has been lost since the early 80's and instead of watching it get passed off to another several decades of unappreciative owners you search it out and bring it back to the town where it was originally built. Just imagine though in order to do so you have to sacrifice trading your own custom built Panhead. What would you do? Well in that exact case, Eric Mills of Dayton, Ohio didn't even flinch at the notion and sought out to bring an amazing piece of Dayton, Ohio chopper history back to Dayton where it will remain once and for all. We met up with Eric in a very small town and rural Indiana for a couple days of camping and barbecue and got the full story on this awesome Dayton Ohio survivor chopper.
So let's get right into the meat and potatoes here and give us the make, model, year and all that fun jazz....as well as a brief backstory.
It's a 1961 FL Panhead originally built in 1972. It has an old Jammer frame, Columbus Springer and it was built by a guy named Brent Mayfield and painted by a guy named Kenny Anderson. The special tank art was actually done with only a tooth pick and ink by a guy named Steve Wright. All 3 from Dayton Ohio and all 3 still ride vintage motorcycles to this day.
So it's undeniably a true Dayton survivor chopper then?
Yeah it was built in 1972, we even have photos of it from back then. Brent built it and then traded it, he worked at a Harley dealer at the time and a guy really wanted the bike so he traded it for a brand new super glide right off the showroom floor. He rode that superglide home, tore it apart and then built a chopper out of that as well. He hadn't seen the bike since then and it surfaced for sale and hadn't been registered or known to have run since 1984 from what we believe is the widow of the guy he sold it to. So, then a guy from Kentucky ended up buying it and I kind of just kept asking him what he was going to do with it and he didn't know much about the bike. So I finally ended up trading my Panhead chopper I built, for the survivor, straight up. I brought it home hooked up a battery, checked for spark, it sparked, poured a little gas in it and 2nd kick it fired right up. I pulled the carb off we cleaned it and a few kicks after that it started, it idled and it ran.
So that is incredible because you've essentially recovered it and specifically kept at local to Dayton at this point?
Yeah I mean, 1971 it got built 3 miles from my house, basically all the pictures of it from then are in the same neighborhood with the same group of guys. There are a few of the other bikes in the photos that are still around Dayton, Ohio right now with the same guys owning them. The bike is pretty much untouched aside from the foot clutch and hand shifter. The front wheel is different because unfortunately it was bent, it had an 18 on it but one of the guys had a 19 so I put it on there. Same rear tire though, original tire and also has the same tube I never even had to put air in it. Same original wiring on the bike too.
So your goal with the bike was really like, it was a piece of Ohio history and you wanted to keep it in Ohio right?
Yeah definitely because the guy who had it in Kentucky had mentioned selling it and possibly shipping it over to Japan and I was like seriously don't do that. You gotta let us keep it here.
Well I guess what would be like one of your favorite parts of the bike or something that stuck out about it that was just your style?
I mean it's like I've just always wanted like, I mean, who doesn't want an old survivor chopper you know? Then like knowing all the guys involved in building it and then finally seeing it, it's like Brent had maybe put like 1000 miles on it and the condition we got it in they guy he traded it to had probably not even put 1000 more miles on it. So also the thing about Brent is, if he builds a bike he rebuilds everything just because so I already knew everything about the internals of that motor before I even traded the guy in KY and I knew it was all went through in there so I knew it would probably run pretty easy. It's just like knowing everyone attached to it and it's like I've painted 4 or 5 bikes for Brent in the past couple years so we have become pretty close. So it's like as soon as I found it then I got it and I offered it to Brent and said if you want it, you give me what I have in my panhead and you can have it and he was like no I just wanna see you ride it,....more than I want to have it myself.
Wow that is just too cool so you actually brought the other Panhead you were referring to, to our Greasy Dozen pre party last year that's the 1st time we got to see it up close and personal and that was an impressive bike as well.
Yup that was it the maroon one with gold leaf flames. I traded that bike straight up for this survivor, I mean it was hard to do but it's like the story is just incredible and I knew I would never have an opportunity like that again. I could build my bike again but this survivor is so much more.
Well can you share with us a little more on the story behind your other Panhead you built?
Well I had literally just built a shovel head and sold it to Tyler and also sold a car and I just happened to have enough money to buy a motor so I bought what was a Pan shovel originally and I road it like that for a year then I bought a set of 1950 heads rebuilt the top and then pieced the rest together over 3 or 4 months it was such a good runner it was a 1956 FLH.
You even had that maroon Pan out in California for Born Free to we saw!
Yeah I got it all the way out there and then the mag shaft broke on the way there so I had to put it in the Van and drive it to the show which sucked but it was still fun either way. My buddy Donnie, Matt Jackson had just built a bike for him that was in the show so I hauled both bikes out there and got to ride around a bit. Hopefully we can make it out again this year.
Yeah they are doing it in September now that would be killer to see this survivor out there when the weather in California in September will be incredible then so we are really looking forward to it.
Ohh my God it was so fucking hot last year man!
Yeah I think at its worst it was a heat index over 100ﾟ which makes it tough so this year will be great I'm sure. So anyway, in seeing the bike 1st off I wanted to know what's the story on the plates? They are pretty cool.
It's actually the one off my old bike and I just got a 1961 plate on Friday and I'm about to transfer it over once the DMV finally opens back up.
So what is the carburetor you have on the bike now and is that also original to the bike?
It's an old Chrome linkert M74b that was actually not on it originally. I still have the original carb but a friend had it and I thought that would be perfect on their I still have the mouse trap clutch set up and the bent 18" wheel. Brent originally asked if I swapped any parts just save them back and I told him time and time again if you wanted anything off it it was his.
So far have you had to do any work to the motor to get it to where you were comfortable with it like to do rides like this one today?
Really the only issue I've had so far was last week I ended up breaking down and it was the coils cause it still has points so dual coils I put another coil on it filed the points re timed it rode it in a parking lot then rode it all the way here.
I mean with acquiring a vintage bike of any kind regard less of the make you are sort of rolling the dice until you know what has or hasn't been gone through. So to have jammed out here several hours from Dayton is pretty tight. I think that you are good to go.
Well the battery I had was old and it went bad pretty soon so I had only made it 5 miles from home and had to switch it in a luvs truck stop parking lot on the way here I had thankfully brought a battery and some wire so I could change it if it did happen and it did. hahaha.
So the guy who you 1st told us about who did the paintwork is he still around Dayton and still doing paint?
Well he paints for himself mostly, he used to do a lot of bikes for Brent as well but he's like only doing any of his own bikes now. He has a Panhead that he built that if people finally seen it; it would be insane Chrome everything. It's just beautiful.
So is the seat and upholstery original to the bike as well?
Yup it's the original Brown seat that he had on it.
Wow that is really in good condition for 50 years old.
It's like yeah that seat and even the tires are that badd for being that old that's an original Avon tire too.
Well what are your aspirations for the bike now?
Ride it as much as possible, it's now my daily rider. I have a shovel head but I don't ride it really I just ride this bike everywhere I go in the past few months I've put around 1000 miles on it so far.
Well for the fact that due to the virus there is really no motorcycle events lately so I'd say that's a pretty good number of miles so far.
I actually got the bike 2 weeks before Daytona bike week and I initially thought I wanted to take my old pan down there and then I got this put a few parts on test rode it in a parking lot then rode it to Daytona for a bike week that was the 1st time I really like rode the bike hard.
Thank you so much for doing this and keeping Ohio bikes in Ohio.
Well it's like you know there are still quite a few survivors out there but you know not all of them are good looking there is some funky ones and some you think how did they survive at all this one it's just incredible how good of condition it's in after all that time I mean it seriously barely got ridden.
That's definitely the best kind to find, thank you again for sharing all this with us.
Photos and words by @mikevandegriff
So let's get right into the meat and potatoes here and give us the make, model, year and all that fun jazz....as well as a brief backstory.
It's a 1961 FL Panhead originally built in 1972. It has an old Jammer frame, Columbus Springer and it was built by a guy named Brent Mayfield and painted by a guy named Kenny Anderson. The special tank art was actually done with only a tooth pick and ink by a guy named Steve Wright. All 3 from Dayton Ohio and all 3 still ride vintage motorcycles to this day.
So it's undeniably a true Dayton survivor chopper then?
Yeah it was built in 1972, we even have photos of it from back then. Brent built it and then traded it, he worked at a Harley dealer at the time and a guy really wanted the bike so he traded it for a brand new super glide right off the showroom floor. He rode that superglide home, tore it apart and then built a chopper out of that as well. He hadn't seen the bike since then and it surfaced for sale and hadn't been registered or known to have run since 1984 from what we believe is the widow of the guy he sold it to. So, then a guy from Kentucky ended up buying it and I kind of just kept asking him what he was going to do with it and he didn't know much about the bike. So I finally ended up trading my Panhead chopper I built, for the survivor, straight up. I brought it home hooked up a battery, checked for spark, it sparked, poured a little gas in it and 2nd kick it fired right up. I pulled the carb off we cleaned it and a few kicks after that it started, it idled and it ran.
So that is incredible because you've essentially recovered it and specifically kept at local to Dayton at this point?
Yeah I mean, 1971 it got built 3 miles from my house, basically all the pictures of it from then are in the same neighborhood with the same group of guys. There are a few of the other bikes in the photos that are still around Dayton, Ohio right now with the same guys owning them. The bike is pretty much untouched aside from the foot clutch and hand shifter. The front wheel is different because unfortunately it was bent, it had an 18 on it but one of the guys had a 19 so I put it on there. Same rear tire though, original tire and also has the same tube I never even had to put air in it. Same original wiring on the bike too.
So your goal with the bike was really like, it was a piece of Ohio history and you wanted to keep it in Ohio right?
Yeah definitely because the guy who had it in Kentucky had mentioned selling it and possibly shipping it over to Japan and I was like seriously don't do that. You gotta let us keep it here.
Well I guess what would be like one of your favorite parts of the bike or something that stuck out about it that was just your style?
I mean it's like I've just always wanted like, I mean, who doesn't want an old survivor chopper you know? Then like knowing all the guys involved in building it and then finally seeing it, it's like Brent had maybe put like 1000 miles on it and the condition we got it in they guy he traded it to had probably not even put 1000 more miles on it. So also the thing about Brent is, if he builds a bike he rebuilds everything just because so I already knew everything about the internals of that motor before I even traded the guy in KY and I knew it was all went through in there so I knew it would probably run pretty easy. It's just like knowing everyone attached to it and it's like I've painted 4 or 5 bikes for Brent in the past couple years so we have become pretty close. So it's like as soon as I found it then I got it and I offered it to Brent and said if you want it, you give me what I have in my panhead and you can have it and he was like no I just wanna see you ride it,....more than I want to have it myself.
Wow that is just too cool so you actually brought the other Panhead you were referring to, to our Greasy Dozen pre party last year that's the 1st time we got to see it up close and personal and that was an impressive bike as well.
Yup that was it the maroon one with gold leaf flames. I traded that bike straight up for this survivor, I mean it was hard to do but it's like the story is just incredible and I knew I would never have an opportunity like that again. I could build my bike again but this survivor is so much more.
Well can you share with us a little more on the story behind your other Panhead you built?
Well I had literally just built a shovel head and sold it to Tyler and also sold a car and I just happened to have enough money to buy a motor so I bought what was a Pan shovel originally and I road it like that for a year then I bought a set of 1950 heads rebuilt the top and then pieced the rest together over 3 or 4 months it was such a good runner it was a 1956 FLH.
You even had that maroon Pan out in California for Born Free to we saw!
Yeah I got it all the way out there and then the mag shaft broke on the way there so I had to put it in the Van and drive it to the show which sucked but it was still fun either way. My buddy Donnie, Matt Jackson had just built a bike for him that was in the show so I hauled both bikes out there and got to ride around a bit. Hopefully we can make it out again this year.
Yeah they are doing it in September now that would be killer to see this survivor out there when the weather in California in September will be incredible then so we are really looking forward to it.
Ohh my God it was so fucking hot last year man!
Yeah I think at its worst it was a heat index over 100ﾟ which makes it tough so this year will be great I'm sure. So anyway, in seeing the bike 1st off I wanted to know what's the story on the plates? They are pretty cool.
It's actually the one off my old bike and I just got a 1961 plate on Friday and I'm about to transfer it over once the DMV finally opens back up.
So what is the carburetor you have on the bike now and is that also original to the bike?
It's an old Chrome linkert M74b that was actually not on it originally. I still have the original carb but a friend had it and I thought that would be perfect on their I still have the mouse trap clutch set up and the bent 18" wheel. Brent originally asked if I swapped any parts just save them back and I told him time and time again if you wanted anything off it it was his.
So far have you had to do any work to the motor to get it to where you were comfortable with it like to do rides like this one today?
Really the only issue I've had so far was last week I ended up breaking down and it was the coils cause it still has points so dual coils I put another coil on it filed the points re timed it rode it in a parking lot then rode it all the way here.
I mean with acquiring a vintage bike of any kind regard less of the make you are sort of rolling the dice until you know what has or hasn't been gone through. So to have jammed out here several hours from Dayton is pretty tight. I think that you are good to go.
Well the battery I had was old and it went bad pretty soon so I had only made it 5 miles from home and had to switch it in a luvs truck stop parking lot on the way here I had thankfully brought a battery and some wire so I could change it if it did happen and it did. hahaha.
So the guy who you 1st told us about who did the paintwork is he still around Dayton and still doing paint?
Well he paints for himself mostly, he used to do a lot of bikes for Brent as well but he's like only doing any of his own bikes now. He has a Panhead that he built that if people finally seen it; it would be insane Chrome everything. It's just beautiful.
So is the seat and upholstery original to the bike as well?
Yup it's the original Brown seat that he had on it.
Wow that is really in good condition for 50 years old.
It's like yeah that seat and even the tires are that badd for being that old that's an original Avon tire too.
Well what are your aspirations for the bike now?
Ride it as much as possible, it's now my daily rider. I have a shovel head but I don't ride it really I just ride this bike everywhere I go in the past few months I've put around 1000 miles on it so far.
Well for the fact that due to the virus there is really no motorcycle events lately so I'd say that's a pretty good number of miles so far.
I actually got the bike 2 weeks before Daytona bike week and I initially thought I wanted to take my old pan down there and then I got this put a few parts on test rode it in a parking lot then rode it to Daytona for a bike week that was the 1st time I really like rode the bike hard.
Thank you so much for doing this and keeping Ohio bikes in Ohio.
Well it's like you know there are still quite a few survivors out there but you know not all of them are good looking there is some funky ones and some you think how did they survive at all this one it's just incredible how good of condition it's in after all that time I mean it seriously barely got ridden.
That's definitely the best kind to find, thank you again for sharing all this with us.
Photos and words by @mikevandegriff