Eyewitness To #107
EYEWITNESS TO #107
One man’s brush with The Black Bike
You can hear the emotion in Randy Wiggins’ voice when he tells the story. And though it might have been the torrential rains blasting the El Camino Bike Show where the Red Bike and Black Bike appeared recently for the first time in public, there seemed to be tears in his eyes.
Wiggins is a three-decades-long “Crocker man" and himself the owner of three Crockers, including the first one sold to the public, bike #4, one of the rare hemi-headed models made only in 1936-37. He relives the moment years ago when Crocker engine #107 returned to California from Italy for its rebuild. While its owner trusted his homegrown painters, he wanted the one and only Ernie Skelton to perform surgery on the heart of the beautiful beast.
“I was there with Ernie in 1991 in his La Mirada home garage when he built that motor,” recalls Wiggins. “We put it together with NOS (New Old Stock) components. I was Ernie’s hands as he was having trouble with arthritis. Ernie also did the bike’s transmission. It was a labor of love and his last Crocker before he passed away.”
We posed the question to Wiggins: Why are people so nuts about Crockers?
He replied, “Why? Just one word. Individuality. Handmade, one factory, one man’s idea, all his own parts and a design ahead of its time.” As Wiggins begins using terse descriptors, the passion in his voice reaches redline. “Speed, beauty, motion!”
He sums it up, “The Crocker was the first custom bike you could order from a factory any way you wanted it. AI Crocker wanted to produce in limited quantity the most opulent, fastest, best-handling motorcycle in the world-the premier roadster. It was a hot-rod cruiser, the first power-cruiser. You’ve got to remember, it was 15 mph faster than its Harley and Indian competition and would accelerate the hell outta any of them.
“They are absolutely the Holy Grail of motorcycles. A Crocker is a Crocker. Nothing comes close.” -Paul Garson
For more on "The Tale of Two Crockers, go to www.cycleworld.com
