As clichéd as it sounds, some things were meant to be. People find certain people for the right reasons which can lead to many other scenarios like helping that person give his old chopper a new home. Such is the case with Clayton Record finding Jeff, the owner of an old Bay Area '57 Panhead chopper. Jeff had owned the Pan for over 35 years and spent most of that time in Oakland, California, but the two had recently settled just north of Modesto, California, where Jeff was on hard times and came to the realization that it was time to let his old friend go.
Clayton is a young firefighter who lives in Southern California's land of milk and honey and got wind of the old FLH, but finding out the pertinent details from Jeff was tough because Jeff didn't even have a phone, he'd have to walk two doors down to use the neighbor's! At any rate, Clayton decided to jump in his truck and take a road trip north to see for himself. Right off the bat the perfectly molded early wishbone frame and polished cases caught his eyes. The bike's former Bay Area glory now hid under a set of Fat Bob tanks and a few other things like 16-inch wheels front and rear, but Clayton knew the potential, so he handed Jeff the much-needed bread for his sled.
Although it was a complete bike it hadn't run in over six years. Clayton replaced the stock ignition with a Joe Hunt Mag, cleaned the carb, and it fired right up. This was about a week before the Biltwell Bash at Lake Skinner in '09. He threw on an early Sporty frontend, 21-inch front wheel, some Avons, an old AMF Sporty tank, and a few other parts and left for the Bash the same morning for its first shakedown run. He rode the FLH until the day before he left for the Hanford Swap Meet when a set screw came loose in the bottom end. It was time for the motor to come out. This was the beginning of the build to its current state.
Clayton liked the form that the bike had taken on with the simple parts swapping, but talking to his friend and painter Scott Craig, he said he had just the tank for his bike which Scott actually painted for an art show a while back. "Scott did all of the molding and paint on it, and he was gracious enough to pass it along to me with the promise that I would run it, not just hang it on the wall." When he got it home and on the '57 he decided the tank was too nice to just throw on, so that's when he decided to take it down to the frame.
Clayton took it over to his good friend Josh Conley's shop at the same time he was building his '58 Pan (Winter '09 SC). Being a firefighter and having friends with a fully equipped shop in their garage, Clayton says there is absolutely no way he could have done it himself. Both Josh and Shawn Donahue helped a tremendous amount for the next four months from the day they all got back from Hanford until the morning of the first Born-Free show. They got the Pan buttoned up at 3 a.m. and headed out for Born-Free that same morning. Clayton was proud to have had his '57 picked by Frank Kaisler for the "Top Panhead" award that day. Clayton can't tell you how much that meant to him, "With all of the incredible bikes there I was really humbled and honored to be recognized." And like most bikes at Born-Free, Clayton's was built to be ridden which he has been doing since. Clayton would like to raise a Yellowbelly to all those who helped, supported, and have ridden alongside him-cheers!