Harley Davidson Wall Art, Wrecking Crew, Vintage Photo, Triptych METAL Sign, Optional Reclaimed Barn Wood Frame

Harley Davidson Wall Art Wrecking Crew

This rare Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Wrecking Crew Metal Triptych is made from heavy gauge American steel (No Flimsy Tin Here). Select from three different sizes: Large, Medium, Small. Also, available with an optional rustic wood frame (See Options Below). Designs are baked into a powder coating for a durable finish. Unlike other tin signs, canvas prints, and posters, our metal signs will not bend, fold, dent, or wrinkle over time. You can take a hammer to our signs. Our signs are hand made just like in the days. Rest assured these metal signs are made to last. Great wall decor for motorcycle enthusiast, offices, living rooms, industrial lofts, garages, man caves, government buildings, restaurants, bars and more. Motorcycle Interior Design.

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SIZE OPTIONS: *SIZES ARE ALL APPROXIMATE (The wood frame option adds a 1-2" border to the total size of each panel. )

• Large - Measures a whopping 72" x 36". Each metal panel measures 24" x 36". With wood frame 84" x 40".

• Medium - Measures 48" x 24". Each Panel measures 16" x 24". With wood frame 60" x 28".

• Small - Measures 36" x 18". Each metal panel measures 12" x 18". With wood frame. 48" x 22".

FRAME OPTIONS:

• Wood Frame - Each framed panel comes mounted on reclaimed barn wood with rustic screws for an authentic look and feel. Also Comes with a small saw tooth metal hanger on the rear, ready to hang. The wood frame adds a 2" border to the total size of each panel.

• No Frame - Metal signs with no frame have each corner drilled and riveted for easy hanging.

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At first glance this photo seems to capture a moment shared between teammates, members of the eminent Harley-Davidson Wrecking Crew lined up either in anticipation of their victory, or perhaps just after, on a dusty dirt oval in the 1920’s. With a bit more investigation it is discovered that the photo comes from a series of M&ATA National Championship races held at Los Angeles’ old Ascot Park in January 1920, just as professional motorcycle racing in America was rebooting after WWI. The riders then begin to come into focus, from left to right, as Freddie Ludlow, Ralph Hepburn, Albert “Shrimp” Burns, and Otto Walker, but if the caption were to end there far too much of the story would remain untold.

This week’s post is somewhat of a followup on another that I wrote back on January 17th of this year, which detailed an intimate moment captured between Shrimp Burns and Otto Walker, two of America’s most beloved motorcycle racing pioneers. The photograph came from the first M&ATA National Championship race of the 1920 season, held at the old Ascot Speedway in Los Angeles on January 11th, 1920. This photograph comes from the very same event and lets us dig a bit deeper into the palpable camaraderie, brotherhood, and potential tensions between these timeless icons. It also raises an interesting question. Shrimp, dressed in all leather second from the right, was photographed here alongside his old racing teammates, posing onboard one of the factory Harley-Davidson’s no less, but was no longer a member of the Milwaukee team. The youngest star of the Harley-Davidson team had just abruptly left the week before to race for Harley’s most formidable rival, Indian. Yet here he is, onboard what must have been Leslie Parkhurst’s factory Harley despite his freshly severed allegiance to the Milwaukee mothership.

Harley-Davidson, Inc., H-D, or Harley, is an American motorcycle manufacturer founded in 1903 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression, along with Indian. The company has survived numerous ownership arrangements, subsidiary arrangements, periods of poor economic health and product quality, and intense global competition to become one of the world's largest motorcycle manufacturers and an iconic brand widely known for its loyal following. In 1901, 20 year-old William S. Harley drew up plans for a small engine with a displacement of 7.07 cubic inches (116 cc) and four-inch (102 mm) flywheels designed for use in a regular pedal-bicycle frame. Over the next two years, he and his childhood friend Arthur Davidson worked on their motor-bicycle using the northside Milwaukee machine shop at the home of their friend Henry Melk. It was finished in 1903 with the help of Arthur's brother Walter Davidson. Upon testing their power-cycle, Harley and the Davidson brothers found it unable to climb the hills around Milwaukee without pedal assistance, and they wrote off their first motor-bicycle as a valuable learning experiment. In January 1905, the company placed small advertisements in the Automobile and Cycle Trade Journal offering bare Harley-Davidson engines to the do-it-yourself trade. By April, they were producing complete motorcycles on a very limited basis. That year, Harley-Davidson dealer Carl H. Lang of Chicago sold three bikes from the five built in the Davidson backyard shed. Years later, the company moved the original shed to the Juneau Avenue factory where it stood for many decades as a tribute.