Reminiscing a costly mistake at age 14

[Panzer]

 
At age 14 I was well into engines and the mechanics of them……….here’s the story of a costly mistake:

At 14 years of age, a friend in school said he has a few Harley engines in his garage, if I want one come pick it up after school.
That afternoon, I was at his garage with my wagon.   I remember putting rags in the wagon to cushion the engine.
It was a complete engine and it was in an oily torn cardboard box.  I lugged it home some two miles in the wagon.
At home, with the engine on the work bench, I looked at it for two days admiring the four tubes going up the sides of the finned cylinders, the shiny head covers, it was a work of art and craftsmanship even if it didn’t have a carburetor, it was mine.
I had my fill of reading, now it was time to see inside first hand and to learn.
I borrowed my dad’s tools and starting to dissect this power plant the next day.
One week later I had the valve covers, rocker arms, push rods and tubes and cylinders off.
The pistons and rings were just hanging there in all their glory…..naked.
I remember splitting the case and removing the gearing inside.

I had so many nuts, bolts, springs, washers, etc., that I didn’t know how to put it back together.
The parts were all in a pile on the work bench or in the torn cardboard box it came in.
I had broken this piece of art stripped down to scrap metal.
I put everything in the box it came in and it sat in the garage for two weeks, not knowing what to do with it.

Here is the sad part and I remember that awful day only in fleeting moments.
I put separate parts like the cylinders, valves, push rods and covers in a separate box and put them in the trash for pick up.
The following week I repeated the trash thing and the engine was history.
At 16 I bought my first ever bike, a used 1941 45 ci Harley.
Only till I traded it in on a 1958 FLH police bike did I notice the near identical engine that it had compared to the one I had trashed years before.
As time went on, I traded up to a new 1962 FL in full dress sporting candy apple red paint.
Again the engine was a look-a-like reminder but this new one was sparkling chrome.
I checked the price on the engine that was sadly and mistakenly trashed.
At the time it was worth “new” about $1,500.00 and today if you could get it new around 7k.
I learned a lot from that engine and my interest in engines is still there as it will always be.
A seven thousand dollar mistake still haunts me to this day, little did I know then.

Just venting I suppose and hope the Harley Gods forgive me.

[apendejo]

Don't feel bad, I will not go into detail about all the stock 60's ex-cop bike parts that went to the curb for the trashman to collect.
All those old Fender guitars and tweed amps that got totally trashed by a young kid with a pretty good paying job that had not a clue or a crystal ball. If only we knew.......
AP

[ThumperDeuce]

What makes me feel sad is the way that the economy has inflated so as to drive the price of the engine from $1.5k up to $7k.

[FSG]

  If only we knew.......           Yeppers 

[Mi_RDGlide]

Are you sitting home with a few jack & cokes reminiscing?  

I bought a 50s something hardtail with apes in the late 70s from a guy that owned a storage place for $300.00. I was only 22, didn't know what I had, put a coil on it, cleaned the carb and it would not start. Put it in the paper sold it for $600.00. Thats the one I needed to keep.

I feel your pain.

[dablaze]

My father is just about to retire after 50 years served with the military as both a solder and a Civilian. His career has always been in supply. He was still selling off retired but unused 45's and Indians as recently as 15-20 years ago for about $500 each. I only wish I had the brain matter to have taken advantage of one or even a few...

Craig

[iiggii]

Hope the trash man was happy.

[preacher son]

I spoke to the Harley Gods, your okay, they realize you were only 14.  Bet you hang onto everything now.  Dont you??

[CraigArizona85248]

OUCH!  That story hurts to read 

RIP

[Panzer]

Oh my.............OUCH!!
But mine wasn't AC like yours.   

[Bigs]

Back in the mid 50's my Grandfather passed away. When getting rid of his stuff he had a old guitar which he bought in a pawn shop in the late 30's and was in very good shape but we never heard of the brand. It was a Martin probably worth well over $10-20,000 now. Oh well, that's in the past.
   Bigs

[76shuvlinoff]

When my older brothers went off to serve in the late 60s the back yard housed a 55 and a 57 Belaire plus at least one the first year Mustangs. Some sorta ran some were not far from it.  I was all of 7 so I remember there were cars out there but the details came later.

About 1969 the boys were still overseas and Mom got pissed at Dad. She said she could not live in a salvage yard and sold them all for scrap.

My brothers are in their 60s now, still crying over it.  Of course over the last 40+ years those cars have been upgraded from "spare parts" to "pristine" depending on how many empty beer bottles are on the table.

[tmwmoose]

Panzer,Perhaps you should make it official and go to confession before you go blind!

[tinkerman]

So Panzer, are you trying to say that Harley was actually in production when you were 14 years old.

I understand now why you spend so much time in the shed.....you poor fellow.....you obviously have some pretty deeply rooted issues going back to your childhood.

Actually I hear where your coming from....when I was about that age there was a basket case triumph that ended up in our yard....older brothers?...I am not sure but I never did see it run. I do remember helping my Dad tip it into a trailer to cart to the dump. So assuming I was around 14...even if the bike was only 10 years old that would make it around a mid sixties bike. That is pretty much sacrilege for a guy like myself that has a soft spot for British bikes. I don't remember the model but don't even want to entertain the idea it might have been an old Bonneville.

I gotta go see my therapist Panzer...see you in the waiting room,

tink

[skeets]

I feel your pain, reminds me of a young man that returned from the service and bought a mid 60's COBRA beat the snot out of it and sold it for beer money,, ohhhhhhh the pain

[70weight]

Craigarizona....like your labeled cups!   I use ziplock bags myself...wife hates it when I do thaat.

[speed limit]

69 G.T.O. for me sold it in 74 for 1,800 bought a v.w. squareback sedan, gas shortage 

[Gunney8]

SpeedLimt: I feel your pain too. Bought a new 65 GTO after first trip back from Nam. Was too young to appreciate the machine and rode the snot out of it. Got 15 speeding tickets (and/or Exhibition Of Speed) before the driver license point program. Paid mucho dollars to the California traffic department. Bought for about $4500, sold it in 67 for about $1500 as I remember it. Hell the insurance payment was as much as the car payment. Got out from under it.. sure wish I would have been able to keep it.

[HroadhogD1]

   Panzer-When we pass on, we will be held accountable for our actions.  The Harley gods will most likely send you to the shed!!   
Yes if we only knew all of the cars, motorcycles, even toys we used to have would be worth alot of big money now.   

[nc-renegade]

Craigarizona....like your labeled cups!   I use ziplock bags myself...wife hates it when I do thaat.

I have a plastic impulse sealer, so I use the cheap plastic bags and seal the parts.  I label them if needed using a black sharpie.  My club Brothers got a big laugh at my system, but I've never lost any parts and it is a good way to keep parts in good order and separate from other bike's I'm working on.

[truckerdave10]

I bought an old 1958 panhead dresser back in the 60's that wouldn't run when i was 16 for either $50 or $100, again depending on how much beer i drink. My mom threw a hissy fit and made me get rid of it. I sold it to another friend for the same as what i paid for it. None of us had ever owned a motorcycle or knew anything about it and we never got it running. Later we found out it was the points and timing. Back in the late 70's my relatives had a junkyard and accidentally crushed a hemi-cuda body.

[HV]

Back in 1973 I was working at my first Job... bought a used 69 Chevell SS396 ... for $3000 ... drove the PI$$ out of it for a few years then sold it for $1500 ... Man what a DumbASS I was ...

[Rags722]

Back in 1973 I was working at my first Job... bought a used 69 Chevell SS396 ... for $3000 ... drove the PI$$ out of it for a few years then sold it for $1500 ... Man what a DumbASS I was ...

Damn HV, I think they saw you coming... or the exchange rate got ya.  I got out of the Air Force in 68 (Sept) and went directly to the Chevy dealer and ordered my '69 396 SS ( 325 HP 4 Speed) for $3,200.00.  Then I headed off to the HD dealer and to order my 69 Electra glide.  If my memory is correct, the price was the same a the Chevelle, give or take $30.00.... except the H-D dealer told me I was something like number 28 on the list.  I told him I wanted a blue one to match the Chevelle.  He told me I was number 28 and what ever color number 28 was, that was the color I wanted or I could step aside for number 29.  I walked out pissed off and picked up a used 68 one of my dad's friends had ( along with his boats, fancy cars, and other garage queens) that he would pull out every weekend and wash to impress the neighbors.  Both the car and the bike were lots of fun, but the H-D got sold so I could pick up a 650 Triumph and the Chevelle (after 3 accidents) got traded in on a Caddy Convertable.  If only I had the sense and money at the time to toss them both in climate controlled storage!

Now if you want a real costly mistake, try this... My bachelor for life uncle purchased a 55 T-bird convertable new.  Then he took up snow skiing because that's where you went to pick up women of the world.  The T-bird wasn't much of a car in the snow, so he parked it in my grandma's back yard and picked up an Opel station wagon for hitting the slopes.  The T-bird kinda got neglected in the back yard, and at some point while I was overseas, some trash hauler stopped at my grandma's and asked if she had anything she needed hauled away.  She said all she had was an old car under a tarp in the back yard.  The scrap guy lifted the tarp, saw the T-bird and told gram he normally got $50.00 to hauls away a car, but since it was little he would take it for $30.00.  She paid him $30.00 to haul out a 55 T-bird that was a complete car.....   I'll bet he laughed all the way home, and when my uncle tried to get the car back, turns out she never got the guys name.

Rags

[speed limit]

rag`s they saw you comming on the E.G. my first harley 1972 f.x. was $2,700 out the door, second harley 1976 F.L.H.dealer wanted $3,600 plus tax and prep I screamed bloody murder got it for $3,600 o.t.d.

[76shuvlinoff]

............... second harley 1976 F.L.H.dealer wanted $3,600 plus tax and prep I screamed bloody murder got it for $3,600 o.t.d.

paid twice that for my 76....in 94