Sunday, June 7, 2015

Oppie Stables

Flathead Rob and I had a great ride out to "Papa" Dave Eady's museum to help with some preparation for the upcoming 3rd Annual Motorcycle Week at Lemay Marymount. I've mentioned the event several times but if you aren't already planning to attend I can't recommend strongly enough you check the Events Calendar. There are dozens of great reasons to go but perhaps the best ever Seattle Cossacks historical exhibit and the first Cossacks performance of the Wall of Fire stunt in decades should be added to that list.

Sometime ago a Dr. Sprocket story in Greasy Kulture spawned me a somewhat obsessive fascination with Sam Oppie and the cutdowns he built. Sam was a hot rodder in the purest sense who some might argue played a major role in the birth of choppers. Plain and simple he built some pretty stunning bikes with the sole purpose of hauling ass. The bike he built made the two cam Harley JD the '32 roadster of motorcycles.

 Dave Eady has been a cornerstone long enough he is the source of a lot Team of history no one else has. I was curious if he had ever met Sam Opie. Sam was before Dave's time but Dave did mention having a pretty unusual piece of memorabilia with a Sam Oppie connection. A race VL engine built by Sam Oppie DBA Oppie Stables. So awesome!


 I have been nagging Flathead Rob to build a custom bike for years (the bike he'd build would be so kick ass). This is absolutely the sort of engine you could easily justify building a bike around. Perhaps once the trauma of building the Indian has subsided a little more (just like childbirth) perhaps this could be the inspiration required for that bobber/cutdown I've been nagging him about...

1 comment:

Flathead45 said...

Both Sam Oppie and Bill Jensen were/are Cossacks (once a Cossack, always a Cossack!). Sam was one of the ten founding fathers (#3, as shown on his card). Bill Jensen was #19.

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