old photos

[flthead]

Moose, is that pic of your dad taken in New Jersey? Anything from NJ that you could put on the NJHMCS site. Hrdly (George)

need to get down an see the curator at nj state police museum for some pics , mostly vl's or panheads . not much on knucks or big flatties . can also check the bike plate # against there info

[pem]

I have really enjoyed everybody posting their one of a kind historic photos. Thank you to you all. What a great thread. Here is a photo that I hope our Canadian friends will recognize. It was post marked Oct. 20, 1912. Prince Albert Park. I have tried to google some information with no luck. Does anybody know what city this was lcoated in? The person who sent the postcard was Julius to a Mr. Earnest Stafnaw in North Freedom, Wi.
He was writing to Earnest to save him some squirrels and to tell him he went duck hunting.

Dick

[c.o.]

Cool pic........thanks for posting it Dick! I'm just taking a stab at this...it seems to me that that track may be located in the province of Saskatchewan. Is there a postmark on the card? Prince Albert is a city in the north/central part of the province. Tom Wilcock frequents this forum and has some knowledge of early Canadian racetracks. Maybe you can chime in Tom? It's funny when you look at early pics from north of the 49th , you see mostly Indians and Excelsiors. Fred Deeley imported Harleys into Canada starting in 1917. I've always had the understanding that he was the first guy to import to this country. I guess this would explain why I'm not tripping over Silent Gray Fellows!!!

[Barry Brown]

My 1913 Harley was originally sold new in Hamilton Ontario . I was new in Prince Albert Saskatchewan in 1949. I doubt this race took place there.

[c.o.]

Glad you chimed in Barry. You've got me curious now. I've always heard that Fred Deeley was the initial importer. Is that inaccurate? Maybe I have the dates wrong. That '13 of yours is a fine machine. How much history do you know about it? It's kind of cool to hear it was an Ontario bike.

[Chuck#1848]

My 1913 Harley was originally sold new in Hamilton Ontario . I was new in Prince Albert Saskatchewan in 1949. I doubt this race took place there.

This is pretty close to home for me Barry my wife grew up in Buffalo,and use to work for the BH&T she still has a friend that lives in Hamilton We live 35 miles south of Buffalo any chance you could post a picture of your 13?

Sorry to be a pain but.........I Just can't get enough of the teens bikes

[Barry Brown]

What i can tell you is that I am told I am the third owner. old bike guru Tom Wilcock probably knows more than I do about my bike! of course he has a lovely 12 single. The story is the original owner bought it in Hamilton, was killed in WW1, his brothers kept it until the 60's when early bike collector Dave Choate acquired it through a trade deal with an early 30's Chrysler that they specifically wanted. I bought it 10 or so years later. Years ago I bought the remains of another, 13, and a 14, a 15 a 16, and a 17 all from the same place in southern Ontario and they had all been there a very long time! With an indian factory up and running in Toronto pre ww1 it is most certain many Harleys were sold in Toronto and vicinity.There were quite a few British bikes as well. I have a brochure showing a line of "Browns" at exhibition park lined up for a race! Also read in one of my early mags of a "hill climb" near Toronto with no less than 3 W.E Brough bikes entered! That is no less than astounding since there are only a handfull of these left anywhere. Maybe the remains of one of these is lurking in some Toronto basement or carriage house now! If you look at bike registrations for Canada in those early years Toronto was the hotbed.

[Rub]

Cory,
From what I understand Fred Deeley was the first DISTRIBUTOR, which is quite different than the first importer. He negotiated a deal for exclusivity and was quite successful at it. In the early days all the manufacturers sold to dealers directly. And as Barry pointed out ,Indian even licensed production on their products.
Robbie

[jurassic]

barry ,thats an interesting 13 twin there.does it have drum brake on the rear?if so how do you start it?are the floorboards correct,is it a late 13?

[c.o.]

Thanks for the story Barry........ I can listen to that stuff 24/7! Oh, and Rub......thanks for clearing my head. A guy gets hung up on something and sometimes it takes just a few sentences to clear things up!