From:	Tom Wilcock	e-mail:	twilcock@hotmail.ca
Subject:	RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Our Gang photo	Date:	Fri Apr 10 07:40:40 2015
Response to:	5641

I know it is not a Henderson but I am working on a 1911 Waverley (later called PEM and then Jefferson). The original sales brochure I have shows a bright blue. I looked at an original paint Jefferson gas tank last year and the paint was a very dark blue, almost black but underneath in the channel that fits over the frame was original bright blue paint. I would seem to me that the blue pigment used in the paints years ago darkened considerably with age so the color of an original paint bike now is not the color it was when new. Tom ----- ORIGINAL MESSAGE FOLLOWS ----- Doug - you ARE old. Steve Ciccalone once remarked that Otis Spiker's formula for Blue paint was responsible for generations of people painting their bikes the wrong shade of blue. Steve's original paint KJ and DeLuxe were very, very dark blue - almost black (Dave C. - would you agree?) My KJ is a much lighter blue, as are many others. If Otis was wrong about the blue color, are we sure he was correct about 1930 and 1931 having black wheels? Look at the two Ex-Hen Sales Brochures in the FFO/Documents section. Neither of these have dates on them. The one we've marked 1929 shows the "set screw" exhaust system which appeared on the earliest 1929s. The one we've marked 1930 says "tested...throughout a full riding season". It mentions an August 1929 race, the bike pictured has the regular exhaust, the kicker sports the large pedal rubber. It's pretty clearly a 1930 brochure. Now look at the Specifications. Under "Finish", it says "Cream wheels". Also, the illustration of the new Special in the May 1930 issue of Motorcycling appears to have light colored wheels. Most of the period photographs are of police departments - for two reasons: (1) police probably purchased the majority of these expensive motorcycles, and (2) photographs were primarily taken by photographers, as iPhones hadn't been invented yet. Photographs were luxuries. I'm guessing there wasn't anything special about police bikes with black wheels - I'm guessing (and it's only a guess) that Henderson changed from cream to black sometime in 1930. ----- ORIGINAL MESSAGE FOLLOWS ----- Rick, Thanks for making me feel old. I knew Otis Spiker. ACEdoug ----- ORIGINAL MESSAGE FOLLOWS ----- Hmmm....black rims.... Gents, I guess no one ever looks in these files. Unless this document is bogus it's all right here in the link below. I mentioned it before but...... If the document is in doubt then it should be noted somewhere prominently. Otherwise relative newcomers like me will accept that something written by the Restoral Society on an old fashioned typewriter as fact. http://www.hendersonkj.com/ffo/documents/restoral/paint.pdf