The Early Chopper days were a different time. Motorcycles weren't accepted by the mainstream like they are today. In fact, the general population snubbed the folks that rode bikes. Acceptance didn't exist. Restaurants wouldn't serve "bikers"; doors were slammed in their faces; they were outcasts; vagabonds; nomads. Mike Vils remembers this all too well. However, he didn't care. He loved everything about motorcycles: the construction, the design, and more importantly building and riding them.
Mike was no outlaw...he just loved bikes. If a door slammed in his face, he simply turned the other way, never raising a fuss. If a waitress refused to serve him because he pulled into the parking lot on a chopper, he simply left and found food elsewhere. He stuck to one philosophy: building and riding bikes because he loved to do it. This philosophy paid off because it led to a long and illustrious career in the motorcycle industry. And this '59 Panhead is a great representation of Mike's career: Both are still going!
Mike, a Long Beach, California native, grew up dirt riding and worked in the early part of his career as a painter of cars, motorcycles, and airplanes. He delved into building motorcycles in 1965 when he tweaked an old Triumph into something that was more his style called "The Brute." The Trumpet ultimately won 22 First place/sweepstakes trophies in two-and-a-half years, but "The Brute" did more than take home prizes, it changed Mike's life when Ed "Big Daddy" Roth stumbled upon it at a car/bike show.
When Ed saw Mike's Triumph he instantly fell in love. He was more than impressed with the work and as a result, he offered Mike a job in 1967 building custom choppers. Mike spent his days fabricating parts for Ed in house, taking part in all phases of design and building.
Mike also did a lot of work on his own, tackling all aspects of motorcycle fabrication and he became a factory painter back in the '70s for the likes of Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki, and he also did custom paint for various others such as Russ Collins, Gene Romero, Evel Knievel, Bell Helmets, and many others. Mike started his own custom shop, Vils Design, building custom bikes and custom painting them, too. But churning bikes out for others made him realize that he needed to build another bike for himself. He was a rider and while he was proud of his accomplishments with "The Brute," that motorcycle was just about impossible to ride, Mike said. So he set out to design and build a mild-radical Harley-Davidson chopper that could keep up with the British and Japanese bikes of the time. This '59 Panhead custom is the result, which was originally shown on the cover of the November 1972 issue of Street Chopper where he and his wife, Irma, are riding alongside Sugar Bear on the "Ride for My Brother," charity ride.
Mike found the Pan in 1969 at a Long Beach Police auction. "I did a complete rebuild/customization of it in 1970. All the work was done the hard way through trial and error. [Through the years] I rode it over 100,000 miles 'test' riding it all over the US," Mike said. This motorcycle was built for long haul road use, to be his daily rider. Who knew it would be his daily rider for the next four decades. The main idea was to design a custom chopper that handled while still retaining "the look." Many hours were spent on the handling (where the rubber meets the road). "I challenge anybody to build a better handling H-D chopper. I was aiming for dependability and handling for the straight line and twisty roads. It can look great, but if it doesn't handle then it's dangerous, not fun," Mike stated.
Mike spent the last 30 years building bikes on the side when he wasn't busy running the day-to-day operations of his home construction company. He's a builder by trade, of all things. And the Craftsman style home in which he and Irma live, shows Mike's handiwork capabilities. However, in 2000, a car made a fateful left-hand-turn in front of Mike and the Pan took a turn for the worse. While Mike survived the crash, the vintage Pan didn't fare as well. But Mike didn't let it get him down because he saw this as an opportunity to rebuild, repaint, and rechrome the original Pan to what you see before you. His optimistic approach to life is reminiscent to the old saying, "when life hands you lemons, make lemonade."
Now that Mike and Irma's children are all grown up and out of the house, he has taken up his motorcycle hobby full time again, and has resumed painting, fabricating, and restoring old motorcycles: race, custom, vintage, and antiques. He really likes the idea that old-school bobbers are coming back around and has been doing bobber projects for anyone interested in having a bobber built the way it should be. His personal collection includes a 1913 Excelsior that he's in the middle of fixing up, a 1929 Harley-Davidson JD that he still rides frequently, and money other two-wheeled treasures. Mike remains very active in the motorcycling world and is currently the Sergeant at Arms for the TrailBlazers, a social organization of pioneer motorcycling enthusiasts that have been meeting annually since 1940. Mike continues to help others learn the craft as he's in the "Pay it forward mode" of his life, which to us is really what wisdom is all about. If you're in the market for a one-of-a-kind piece of Panhead history, this motorcycle can be yours for only $25,000.