June 2011 Asylum Mobilitarium

June 2011 Asylum Mobilitarium

I finally received author Rin Tanaka’s book, “Harley-Davidson Fashions, 1910-1950,” from the Harley-Davidson museum in Milwaukee.  As with Tanaka’s other books on vintage motorcycle clothing, this book features excellent photography and descriptions of items such as leather helmets and puttees, that most motorcyclists today have never seen, but at one time everyone who rode a motorcycle wore.

It’s interesting to see motorcyclists clothing evolve over the years. In the teens, bike riders wore coats that were bulky and mostly made of fabric. Zippers at one time were an expensive item apparently. Zippers on jackets and pants did not see wide spread use until the late 1930’s.

The photos of riders dressed in outfits that looked like military uniforms in the 1930’s are especially interesting. Jodhpur riding pants, cavalry boots, and leather and cloth flying caps were all the rage. There were rallies, some were put on by the AMA and called “Gypsy Tours,” where the trophy for “best dressed club,” was a coveted prize. What’s ironic is that some of the men and women wearing these club uniforms would be wearing a real military uniform in just a few years after WWII began.

After WWII, some veterans, especially air crew members, brought home their leather jackets and began riding motorcycles. Clothing manufacturers took note of this popular trend, and realized the safety aspect in wearing leather. After the film “The Wild One,” came out in 1953, there were few throttle –twisters that didn’t have a Marlon Brando type “Schott” or “Langlitz” black leather jacket hanging in their closet.

The traditional motorcycle jacket worn today hasn’t changed much since the fifties. What has changed is that the belt that you see on most jackets nowadays did not come about until riders complained that cold air would rush under the backs of their jackets when at speed. The built in belt that you see on most jackets is the result of manufacturers trying to solve this problem.  

Harley-Davidson has been making motorcycle jackets and clothing since their first catalog came out in 1910. They still sell traditional leather jackets, but also have taken a nod from other manufacturers in offering modern fabrics that shed water, have built in armor, reflective capability and other advances in biker clothing.

Tanaka’s next book I hear will be the history of Harley-Davidson clothing from 1950- to the present. Once again he will be given access to the more than 100,000 photos that are available to researchers in the museum. I’ll be especially interested in seeing the products that were offered during the AMF era. Apparently the jackets, gloves, pants, and helmets that were offered during the 1970’s are really collectable.

During the days of AMF ownership, many if not most riders of Harley-Davidson’s grudgingly bought bikes from a company that most thought was ruining the brand. Some riders, when they brought their new purchase home from the dealership would scrape the letters “AMF” off the tanks of their bikes to show their disgust with the massive conglomerate that also made pool tables and bowling balls.

Traditional buyers of Harley bikes in the 70’s may have figured that if they wanted a new Harley they would have to buy one from AMF, but if they wanted a jacket, they could protest and go somewhere else. And they did. So for this reason, if you find a piece of vintage motorcycle wear that has “AMF” anywhere on it, buy it.   

You’re kids can sell it on E-Bay for big bucks 30-40 years from now.

June 2011 Dallas Police Shield

June 2011 Dallas Police Shield

I recently finished Captain Eddie Walt’s book, “The Hall Street Shootout,” that I mentioned last month. If this audience, young and old, wants a taste of what it was to be a Dallas Police Officer at the end of the so-called “golden age” of the DPD, you should pick it up.

Initially what struck me was that the officers at that time were ill-prepared to deal with a situation that we now would call a “barricaded person.” This was no fault of their own. There were no real SWAT teams then. There was a Tactical unit, but it was used more for “shotgun squads” and “saturation patrol,” than making entry into a house where a crazy person lived.

Saying this, the DPD officers that surrounded the suspect’s house, and eventually made entry that day, did heroic deeds with what they had.

It’s interesting to note that the new “wonder oil/cleaner,” what we now call WD-40, had been used by many officers on their service weapons to clean them. What they didn’t know at the time was that the cleaner also did a number on the ammo. Several officers that day tried to shoot back with their service weapons, and many hammers fell on primers that had been destroyed by the cleaner. Who knew?

Most of the officers then made good use of their shotguns however.  But there was the rule that you could not load the shotgun at the station. The rounds were usually rubber banded, and kept in the car. With calls holding, many squads would have to race out of the station at shift time, and well ah, you wouldn’t stop on a street somewhere and load up. This ridiculous rule was on the books because some officers would jack one in and “Boom,” there goes the station’s sally port roof.

Back in 1969, and as late as 1977 when I hired on, an officer had the option to carry several different types of weapons, including long guns, since there were not enough shotguns to go around. Some officers brought their own from home. One officer had an M-1 carbine and let loose with a few rounds! And he didn’t get days off! Amazing but true.

When I was in SWAT, we used a lot of tear gas rounds! I mean the City spent a lot of money on these expensive items. Helicopter fuel was Tactical’s biggest expense, tear gas was second! The reason is that we would pump round after round into a suspect’s house, mostly because the rounds were not accurate and most would hit the side of a house, and land near a perimeter SWAT member, who would let the gas man know later what he thought about his shooting skills! But those rounds usually did the trick and the suspect would come out coughing and spitting up a lung. And of course the occasional DPD officer who was late putting on his gas mask!

In 1969, shooting tear gas was a bigger deal than today. Dallas had escaped for the most part the civil unrest hitting other major cities in this country in the 1960’s. There were riots in the streets about the war in Vietnam, racial issues, women’s rights, etc. Dallas still is a conservative city, but in 1969 it was much more so. The city leaders were scared out of their wits that it would happen here, and we would quit making money! We did have the downtown riot in 1972 after the shooting of a child, but for the most part, Dallas was all about making money, and we kept the so-called lid on things. And the students that went to SMU were not the radical types like at Berkley, Columbia, etc. That was the major educational institution in Dallas at the time (and still is I guess,) and thankfully it didn’t happen here.

Anyway, to shoot tear gas in 1969, you would have to get a chief or someone like that to sign off to unload on a house. The images of other cities using tear gas on its citizens to quell disturbances during civil unrest didn’t sit well with the behind the scenes guys on the powerful “Dallas Citizens Committee” that really ran things back then. I’m sure that there were closed door meetings with the DPD telling the Chief not to use gas unless you have to. Initially, the officers had a hard time finding a chief to give the word, but one was found and the word was given.

The description of Hall and Thomas in the 1960’s brought back a lot of memories to this writer, who remembers that intersection as a rookie in 1977. Wow, the area now is all Biffs’, Buffy’s, BMW’s and trendy bars! Amazing. Better? I’m not so sure. The area in 1969 had its own character, good or bad, it was genuine. Now, I’m not so sure.

Check out Captain Walt’s book. This like I said is a real slice of the DPD life in the sixties. Well worth a read.

W.H.Croom,II #3973 retired

dmntia1995@aol.com,www.asylummobilitarium.blogspot.com

  

March 2011

1999 HD Heritage Springer

Earl Werner

Had dinner and great conversation last night with Earl Werner. He has the distinction as being the chief engineer on the C-5 Corvette, after 30 years with GM, and Chief engineer with HD, developing among other models, the V-Rod. Earl is on the right next to Willie G.

May 2011 Asylum Mobilitarium

May 2011 Asylum Mobilitarium

I saw on Facebook recently from the Harley-Davidson Museum that a new book has been released by author, Rin Tanaka.  I have a book that he wrote in 2005 titled, “My Freedamn! 3. The book was all about vintage jackets and t-shirts. It is kind of a coffee table book that chronicles motorcycle outer wear from basically the 1940’s to the 1970’s.

As most (some, well a few) PCH’ers know, Willie Hank is a big fan of vintage motorcycle duds. There used to be a place in Wichita Falls called “Ghost Clothes.”   I visited the establishment in 2004 on the way to Sturgis. You would find old Indian, Harley-Davidson, Schott, and Sears Roebuck leather jackets, chaps, t-shirts, as well as rare HD AMF motorcycle clothing.

Sears-Roebuck?  Really? According to the book, 1960’s Sears, and Montgomery-Ward motorcycle jackets, with the red velvet lining, go for big bucks. There is a cool couple and old friends of mine and many PCH’ers, Ron and Mary Barker, who own an authentic Sears-Roebuck jacket from the 60’s. Ron kind of grew out of it over the years so Mary wears it well now. I told her once that her jacket was worth a heck of a lot of money, and she still wears it proudly!

By the way, last time I checked, Ghost Clothes was unfortunately out of business. But you can still find authentic, vintage leather clothing on several websites. But be aware, motorcycling in Willie Hank’s opinion is about prayer and karma. In the karma realm, wearing another biker’s jacket with tears, scratches, pins, patches, bug splats and other grease and grime of the road, borders on bad karma.

If your brother, sister, father, mother or close friend hands down a favorite road worn piece of  clothing, that’s cool, that’s motorcycle history, but don’t buy a jacket off E-Bay and pass it off as your own.  

I said all that to say this. Rin Tanaka has come out with a new book on biker clothing. Harley-Davidson agreed in 2007-2008 to let Tanaka photograph many of the items in their vast archives of historic and vintage clothes from 1903 to the present.

It’s available from the Museum for $40.00. You have to call; they don’t have web based ordering system yet at the HD Museum.

I’m a fan of the “Car in the Barn,” series. Jay Leno has written the forwards in a couple of the books. There is “Cobra in the Barn,” “Corvette in the Barn,” and “Vincent in the Barn,” which is about finding old motorcycles in garages, back yards, and yes, barns!

In one of the stories, there are a couple of guys who flew to Russia because they had a lead on some old Harley-Davidson WLA bikes. They were picked up at the Moscow airport and driven 100 miles or so outside the city by a couple of guys they took for Russian Mafia. Scared out of their wits, they worried as they were driven to a secluded house.

Well, there was no barn so the guys thought, well this is it, and we’ll be robbed and dumped   in a nearby ditch. They approached the house that was very, very dark. No barn or garage, suspicious looking Russian guys, no cell phone service, no silly Facebook  (checking in) “Scary Russian farmhouse ,” our hero’s thought that their number was up.

As they were led downstairs at the farmhouse, sweating profusely, one of the Russians flipped on the light in what turned out to be the basement. To the Americans surprise, there were fifty or so WWII WLA’s that had been in the farmhouse basement for 65 years.  Long story very short because of this limited space, the good guys have gone back several times and brought back many boatloads of historic Harley-Davidsons to restore.

Harley built 88k military bikes in WWII. The second best customer besides the U.S. was the former Soviet Union.

Willie Hank, Historian

May 2011 Shield magazine

May/June 2011 Dallas Police Shield

Last month we spoke about some of the colorful characters that make police work so interesting. I recently received an e-mail from retired officer David Lane #2214. I always enjoy hearing stories from officers, both retired and otherwise. Lane spoke of our friend Herby Navarro that Charlie Tull wrote me about some weeks ago.

Lane mentioned that around 1968-69, IACP recommendations were implemented, and as a result all 4x6 book in cards were pulled. It was found that three guys, including Herby, led the pack for Drunk and Disorderly arrests since 1946. The breakdown for the three was one had 1200 arrests, the other 900, and the third, about 700-800 arrests for being what we called Public Intoxication in my day. It’s not known where Herby ranked but he was up there obviously.

 Was PI different from D&D? I welcome any input on the question.

In a tidbit that would probably get you days off today, and an entry into the Dallas Morning News archives, reporters showing up as you leave the gym to interview you, etc. some officers would allow Herby, when he was taken to jail, put the arresting officers “out to jail” on the police radio. As we discussed last month, the dispatchers knew Herby, and would many times answer, “10-4 Herby.” Yes, for the good old days!

Herby was one of those guys that you just couldn’t dislike. He was a character, but somewhat dealt with by the good officers of the time with a kind of humor that is part of a police officer’s makeup. I’m sure there are others of this status out there today. I really hope so.

I know that when we retired officers get together, it’s all about how glad we are that we made it to retirement. I’m also sure that in these retirees, there is the thought sometimes that we wished that we were back working again. Maybe it’s the longing to be young again. I don’t know. It’s all about the memories my friends.

Today’s officers should cherish these times. Someday, one of them may be writing this column!

I want to take a moment and mention Captain Eddie Walt’s book, “The Hall Street Shoot Out.” I haven’t spoken to Captain Walt and I hope that he doesn’t mind me mentioning his book.

Most young officers today only know Hall and Thomas as a place to get rent free apartments, good looking women, and that there are some pretty cool bars in the neighborhood. Hell, I’ve been to the Rockin’ Taco in the area recently on my bike! It’s really changed. But when I got on in 1977, it was still a rough and tumble area. One of the first calls I remember is with Bill Turnage and I rushing up some stairs in the old hotel at Hall and Thomas going to a disturbance.  However, on the other hand there was Henderson’s Chicken’ Shack that I remember as having the best chicken I’ve ever tasted!

Captain Walt’s book brings out the true flavor of the neighborhood in the late 1960’s. Many of the officers mentioned in the book are a “who’s who” in the annals of the Dallas Police Department.  One interesting item in the book is the fact that at one time, because officers were accidentally shooting off rounds when loading shotguns, officers were forbidden to load their shotguns except away from the station. Well, guys were usually sent to calls as soon as they got out of detail, so they forgot to stop somewhere safe, away from the station, and load their shotguns.

At the “Hall Street Shootout,” several officers grabbed their shotguns from under the seats of their squad cars, and found that the guns were empty! The rounds were bound together by rubber bands; they never got around to loading the shotguns. Later, this General Order was changed.

Captain Walt’s book should be required reading for every Dallas Police Officer. You can purchase it at the DPA, and the Headquarters building. Check it out!

W.H.Croom, II # 3973 retired

www.asylummobilitarium.blogspot.com

dmntia1995@aol.com   

Dad

I could see that Dad wasn't feeling good when I visited him Wed. He was taken to the hospital yesterday morning with stomach pains, bladder infection, etc.
It's so sad to see ones Dad in this condition.
Hopefully with the meds,he will be back in shape by Monday.