Original publication: BikerTrash.com
Original byline: Staff
When he was in Korea, Tom Pemberton dreamed of owning a Harley and riding over the California hills to get the stink of war out of my head. When he docked in San Diego he headed for Hollywood and the Harley-Davidson dealership: Santa Monica Motors on Sunset Boulevard. The man said, “Well, a new bike is over $1,000.” TomI said, “All I’ve got is $350.” He replied, “Well, all I’ve got is that old hill-climb bike over there.”
It had a 1941-61 frame with a 1948-74 engine, a 1/4 turn throttle, suicide clutch (a 3/4″ diameter rod bent at right angles covered with a 1″ piece of garden hose for a pedal), straight pipes and a hill/climb rear sprocket, in California colors — gold and blue. It was love at first sight. Tom got on and rode off into downtown Hollywood traffic.
He had no experience with such a rapid machine. Red lights were hell! He would usually kill the engine and while trying to get rolling again, would have to listen to “You, #*&!, if you can’t ride that ugly bike, get off the street!” But he loved this machine!
Eventually Tom got to the Santa Monica Mountains. The bike was a competition machine without lights so it had been shop wired. That first night his headlight kept going out so he followed the tail-lights of cars on dark, winding roads until he found a gas station where he bought several bulbs. When his final bulb blew out, he just shut the bike down and unrolled a sleeping bag next to a meadow pond. Tom closed his eyes and, after riding all day, his mind was full of motorcycles and his ears with the noise of croaking frogs. Soon the two images were joined and Tom dreamed of frogs riding motorcycles.
Five days later that beautiful ride caught on fire in downtown Los angeles and Tom headed back to his ship.
Now, 40 years later, Frog On A Hog® is reality! . . . Full Story
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