51 Panhead Chopper

ete Jackson lives in Downstate, NY and began his two-wheel experience riding BMX as a kid. He was also known to “borrow” his dad’s GS850 a time or two, but keep that part quiet, it’s still a secret from Pop. Some visits to the old Easy Riders shows with his uncle turned him onto choppers and he’s been at it ever since.

Originally from Ohio, Pete eventually made his way to his current home in rural New York State. “Terrapan”, his ’51 Panhead, got her name from an inside joke about how slow the build would take from beginning to end. Back in 2013, Pete had a ’66 Sportster with a Harman front end. Some strong encouragement from his pack of friends referred to as “GoFast!” got him to sell off the Sporty pieces and move the Harman to a Panhead. He sold his ’79 Shovelhead and the rest is history.

Pete has a strong and creative imagination when it comes to choppers. He had the general look and feel for Terrapan in his head for several years. Since he knows his way around a good swap meet and is somewhat of a hoarder, Terrapan was put together piece by piece and “usually pieces of a piece put

ptogether”, jokes Pete. Up until this build, he owned Sportsters and Shovelheads and felt it was time to step up the game. He always had a thing for Panheads and this was the opportunity to make it happen. Half way through this build he also picked up his ’56 Panhead survivor chopper. Obviously, this was a good year for the Jackson compound. Pete started this build in October of 2013 with the wishbone frame and other parts he had collected. He finished it a few weeks before he rode it to Born Free in June of 2015 where he won the Born Free

Rider Award. Although he did the majority of the work himself, some pals had been glad to lend a hand. Rich Hutchinson helped him on the lathe with axle spacers and provided moral support along the way. His pal Joel Hauenstein, organizer of the Run 4 Your Life event in Ohio, had a huge hand in the molding and amazing paint work. He let Joel have free reign with this part of the project. Joel asked him what color he wanted, and Pete responded with “sunset colors”. A few weeks later he heard back from Joel with “Hey, I found this really cool pearl white, it POPS, but no blue hues, it’s just a super pearly white!” Joel was so stoked on it, he couldn’t say no. When I asked Pete about his favorite part of the build, I got- “The first time I rolled it into the sun. After that I was amped to get it done and ride!. Joel clearly killed it with his contribution. Pete mentioned a few others that assisted with Terrapan. Matt Rush machined the cases, as well as some head work, and Greg Olddaze went through the tranny for him. Also, the living legend Bill Holland answered a number of front end questions and assisted with getting his axle issues addressed.

Clearly, a lot of inspiration for Terrapan came from ‘70’s show bikes. Pete made a few tweaks for rideability, but feels that she could easily fit in a show from that era.

Pete feels the biggest challenge of this project was his first complete motor build. He built it from the ground up. He got the cases from Louisiana and

they looked like they had been sitting in a swamp for a very long time. This was the also the first time he chopped an OEM frame. The guilt almost got to him, but he worked through it knowing someone had molested it before. He feels that it wasn’t just one thing that challenged him on this build, but more of making every piece “fit” in the bike. He didn’t just line things up a lot of staring went into this…a lot.

As much as it doesn’t look it, Pete really rides her. As soon as she hit the ground he put 500 miles on her in a matter of days. He had to break her in. The plan was to ride to Born Free with his buddies who also built bikes for the trip and as usual, they were mostly all wrenching at the last minute. Then they spent the next two weeks living on the road. He describes it as the cherry on top of the build that will forever be a memory of good times. I’m sure the Rider Award made the trip even better.

As I’ve witnessed, Pete gets a lot of attention when he takes her out of the

Owner: Pete Jackson city/state: Catskills, NY builder: Pete Jackson Year: 1951 Model: Harley-Davidson FL Time: Should Be Done Sometime This Century value: Whatcha Wanna Give Me? ENGINE

Year: 1951 Model: FL Builder: Owner/Rush Cycles ignition: Magneto Displacement: 87ish pistons: Yep Heads: STD With Some Lovin’ Carb: S&S Super E cam: Leinweber Air Cleaner: Gasbox Exhaust: Upswept Cocktails primary: North Hollywood Tin W/ Belt TRANSMISSION

Year: 1952 Make: Harley-Davidson® Shifting: N1 Drum Frame

year: model: Chopped Wishbone rake: Yep stretch: Yep forks

type: Harman Builder: Spirder triple trees: Adjustable extension: 12” WHEELS

Front Wheel: Invader Size: 21” Front Tire: Avon Speedmaster front brake: My Foot Rear Wheel: Invader Size: 16” Rear Tire: Speedmaster rear brake: Drum PAINT

Painter: Joel Imagel Hauenstein Color:Pearl White type:PPG graphics:It Will Set Your Balls On Fire! Chroming:None ACCESSORIES

Bars: SS risers: Hand Controls: Nash Sticky Throttle Foot Controls: SS Bits Welded Together Fuel tank: Maindrive oil tank: Horseshoe Front Fender: Bandana rear Fender: Front Street Cycle seat: Haifley Brothers Headlight: Aries taillight:Ford speedo: The Breeze Between My Knees Photographer: Daniel Venditto

shop. “Is it comfortable?”, “Do you have to kick start it?”, and “Is that a Triumph?” are the usual questions he gets. He also gets a lot of questions about the front end. Regardless, Terrapan is a head turner. In addition to the Born Free Rider Award, he also took home Best in Show at the App MotoJam in the fall of 2016.

Currently, Pete is working on another Panhead, this time a ’52. Even though he’s got other projects in the works, he still smiles every time he throws a leg over Terrapan.