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n everyone’s life, some rain must fall, as the saying goes. For if it is the good times that give us cause to celebrate, it is the hard times that test our mettle. Like most good stories the tale of this machine has it all, life at its best, unhappiness, love, and how we survive from day to day. With that being said, it all started with a phone call. I got a ring from my friend Boris (RIP) that he was getting ready to dump a bunch of his old parts including the drivetrain out of his Shovel-Pan chop. He was in a bit of a financial crunch and it was time to clear the 40 plus years of parts he had
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January ‘18 - CYCLE SOURCE MAGAZINE
accumulated. But there was a catch in that Boris did not want to craigslist, eBay or swap meet the parts. It was to be sold only to righteous guys that we knew. When the day came that the large stash was whittled down to just a small assortment, he approached me about buying the engine and transmission out of his chop. I had just spent a chunk of money on a different Pan motor and tranny and it was just outside of my financial reach as well. So, I bent the ear of my friend and fellow Milwaukee bar explorer Ben Marx (aka Lil Ben) and told him of the possibility of this drivetrain he had been searching for
becoming a reality. It wasn’t too hard to convince Boris that Ben was a good guy and would do the bike right. So, with a bit of Milwaukee justice juice flowing through our veins on a rainy cold day in Boris’ garage the deal was struck. Ben spent a couple of weeks pulling the heart out of the beast and then it was time for phase 2. Ben had the heart now he needed the bones. Thanks to a chance meeting many years prior at BMR, Ben made fast friends with a fellow chopper jock named Jason Fergusson of Texas Bike Works, and through the years they stayed in touch. When it came time for Jason to update
