One Veteran Called Back to Active Duty
August 28, 2003
A stab at the button spins the starter and the V-8 springs to life. The loping idle is rich and raw, and without benefit of mufflers, the engine announces the presence of a genuine hot rod amid the clatter of so many motorcycles. But there is no car in sight. That unmistakable sound emanates from the frame of our Honest Charley Flathead V-8 motorcycle, and onlookers—motorcyclists all—are reduced to slack-jawed wonderment as they crowd around the bike in disbelief. This bike is all about the sound.
The machine, which could well have emerged from a time warp, comes from the world-famous Honest Charley Speed Shop of Chattanooga, Tenn. I phoned Mike Goodman, the company’s affable president, the instant I laid eyes on the bike. I wanted to know if I would kill myself riding it. Mike was mowing his lawn when I called. Any company president who mows his own lawn has got to be the genuine article. The bike certainly turned out to be.
advertisement
