Back in '83 I was in the Coast Guard in Cali. I reenlisted and Uncle Sugar gave me $10K for 3 more years of my life. I walked in to the Harley dealer in Long Beach Ca. and was lookin at new Harleys. There were 2 salesmen there that pointedly ignored me.
Finally I walked up to them and asked about a particular bike. I forget which model it was but remember it was blue and had a lot of chrome. A 1200. The holier than thou salesman looks at me (military haircut) and says " fuck it. You guys always buy rice anyway". Dickhead didn't know I had $10K in my pocket. He also didn't know that I had a pic of a Harley above my desk for the last year.
I was operational but they gave me a desk in a building for the times I wasn't on a mission. My 82 ft Patrol boat had Blue and Gold Crews. I was an Officer of the Deck and the Lead Boarding Officer on my crew. But that's another story.
I look at the guy and thought " Ok then fuck you pal". My patrol boat had 2 , 9 man crews. Out of 18 guys 8 of them had bought new Kawasakis from the dealer in town.
I walked into that shop and the guy greeted me like I was a relative. I bought a brand new '83 GPz 750. The first superbike. Half fairing. Red w/ blue and silver stripes. The Kaw dealer knocked $500 off the minute I walked in and threw in a nice leather jacket and a brand new Belle Star Full Face helmet. The best helmet available at the time.
The bike weighed 500 lbs and had 86 horses stock. I put a Kerker header on it and jetted the carbs. It ended up about 480 and 101 horses. A pretty quick bike in 1983. I also put Dunlop Sport Elite Tires on it and a competition chain. That bike with those tires had won in the rain at Laguna Seca the year before.
I was racing a chick in a Maserati one day and was doing 135 mph on the 101 coast freeway. I don't know what Maserati she was driving but at 130 she laughed, waved, shifted, and pulled away!. The bike had a little left but I was done. That was the fastest I ever went on it.
Not long after I got transferred from Cal to NYC. I'll come back and do an installment or two on that trip. Oh yeah. After I bought the GPz I called the Harley dealer and got the owner on the phone and told him this story. He was not amused. CYA
Back in '83 I was in the Coast Guard in Cali. I reenlisted and Uncle Sugar gave me $10K for 3 more years of my life. I walked in to the Harley dealer in Long Beach Ca. and was lookin at new Harleys. There were 2 salesmen there that pointedly ignored me.
Finally I walked up to them and asked about a particular bike. I forget which model it was but remember it was blue and had a lot of chrome. A 1200. The holier than thou salesman looks at me (military haircut) and says " fuck it. You guys always buy rice anyway". Dickhead didn't know I had $10K in my pocket. He also didn't know that I had a pic of a Harley above my desk for the last year.
I was operational but they gave me a desk in a building for the times I wasn't on a mission. My 82 ft Patrol boat had Blue and Gold Crews. I was an Officer of the Deck and the Lead Boarding Officer on my crew. But that's another story.
I look at the guy and thought " Ok then fuck you pal". My patrol boat had 2 , 9 man crews. Out of 18 guys 8 of them had bought new Kawasakis from the dealer in town.
I walked into that shop and the guy greeted me like I was a relative. I bought a brand new '83 GPz 750. The first superbike. Half fairing. Red w/ blue and silver stripes. The Kaw dealer knocked $500 off the minute I walked in and threw in a nice leather jacket and a brand new Belle Star Full Face helmet. The best helmet available at the time.
The bike weighed 500 lbs and had 86 horses stock. I put a Kerker header on it and jetted the carbs. It ended up about 480 and 101 horses. A pretty quick bike in 1983. I also put Dunlop Sport Elite Tires on it and a competition chain. That bike with those tires had won in the rain at Laguna Seca the year before.
I was racing a chick in a Maserati one day and was doing 135 mph on the 101 coast freeway. I don't know what Maserati she was driving but at 130 she laughed, waved, shifted, and pulled away!. The bike had a little left but I was done. That was the fastest I ever went on it.
Not long after I got transferred from Cal to NYC. I'll come back and do an installment or two on that trip. Oh yeah. After I bought the GPz I called the Harley dealer and got the owner on the phone and told him this story. He was not amused. CYA
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