Cover story
Scotty Dettwiler makes lovely custom parts and builds beautifully considered and fabricated custom motorcycles, all through his shop Juniors Hand Made. He built this 1978 Shovelhead for Born Free last summer – where it picked up a couple of awards – and it's undergone a genuinely radical transformation. So how did an Aussie end up building beautiful bikes in SoCal and getting invited to show them in Japan?
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What was Jimmy thinking?
Scallops are a fifties thing, right? Larry Watson and those guys? Kustom kulture? Yes and no.
When Jimmy – who had saved his wages at the lumberyard and was now proud owner of a secondhand Harley VL – wanted to make his bike stand out, custom paint was high on his list. He'd already cut down his fenders – like the racers of the day – but what else said 'fast'?
Early '30s Gee Bee Model R Super Sportster racing 'planes did; and what about those glorious Crocker motorcycles (made from '36 to '41) – the manufacturer offered a refund to any owner beaten by a Harley or an Indian! Jimmy could never afford one – but wow! And what did these kings of the sky and the road feature on their paintwork?
Yeah: scallops.