Garage Build: Bill Garcia 1978 Special Construction

How's it going everybody, I'm Nate Beck. And you're watching Fix My Hog. Today we're bringing you a Garage Build episode. Garage Build is an online platform for builders across the country to enter their custom choppers, bobbers and motorcycles. They're then put up to view and you can check out the profiles and all the details about it. We've been looking through Garage Build and there's one build here that's really kind of turned our head. Not only is it a great looking build, but the story behind it is one of the most unique stories I've heard about a custom chopper. So we've got Bill on the line here with his bike, Big Dreams. Bill, how are you doing? Pretty good. Awesome, so let's see Big Dreams. It's a killer chopper to look at even before you, you know, tell the story. So let's visually check out Big Dreams here. Okay, so can you see that okay or do you gotta switch the thing around? Nope, that looks great Bill. Thank you. So what's your favorite part about this bike? I think the favorite part is the tank. Yeah. 'Cause it's the same one and, you know, the whole suspension and everything is identical to what I had had in the past. Right. You know, the other bike and how they came about finding everything is quite the deal. I do like the magneto on there. It's a lot easier. I had a Joe Hunt magneto on the first bike but this is I think a Mallory. Okay. And they, in order to shut it off, there's just this little button you push on the side so. Nice, well you mentioned another bike. I know this story 'cause I've seen your Garage Build profile but for the people that are watching this, tell us about the actual original bike that spawned this bike. In '77, 1977, I worked for a job. I had worked at an envelope company and there was a couple of guys there that rode and Rich Sutton and anyway, the guy was like being married to him 'cause he nagged me and nagged me and I'd never been on a motorcycle before. And "Get a bike, get a bike" and after a while, you know, I had enough of it. And he had a '74 Ironhead or a '74 Shovelhead. And I said, "Man, that's huge." You know, it was huge to me. And then another guy that was riding with him was Dennis. And he had a Sportster but the Sportster had, I dunno, it was like a 10 over on it on a stock suspension. So when you sat on it, your toes could barely touch the ground. So that was kind of a decision making. So I started going around looking and I went to Harley dealers and so on. I ended up going to Ron Sims old shop on Mission and about eighth street. And I seen this bike here that, you know, the old bike and I said, I gotta have it. Back in that time it was Billy Buddy customs and all that up, running up and down East 14th street. But I really liked this Arlen Ness style and so on. So I said, "Well, how much?" And you know, he told me and I went right over to Household Finance and got myself, I think it was $2,400 for the thing, paid cash for it. He rolled it out the front door and I got on it. And I just like, "What is it, one down four up?" You know, so he told me and he said, "Wait a minute," "you got another tank going with this thing too." The original bike had a Sportys tank on it, they cut down Sporty tank and then he had this coffin tank which was really cool because it had this airbrush scene with these biplanes dogfight. And it was painted by a Horst, I guess one of the guys that did a lot of Arlen stuff. So I had the thing and I rode it all over the Bay area. Never been on a bike, no helmets, just kicked the thing over and rode it for a couple of years. I don't even think I changed the oil. I didn't even know how to check the oil, you know, back then. Choppers. So, I just rode it. I got pulled over in San Mateo one time, the cop said, "Hey, you need a horn on it." "You need a mirror on it." So I went and got a bicycle mirror and actually one of those bell horns and put it on there. Got that cleared and I just rode it. I mean, I rode it everywhere. I think I sent you a picture of me going across the San Mateo bridge on it. Yep. And, the wind was just, you were kind of laying sideways when you were going across it. So it's quite a bit lighter than the bigger bikes. Then, in about '79, my wife and I kind of had some issues and we kinda, it was one of those deals. And I took off to Colorado. And then in about a month, I came and got her and we moved it back to Colorado. So I fired it up in Colorado and it sputtered and backfired and everything. And I didn't know. I didn't even know how to adjust the carburetor. I don't know nothing about the thing. And at the time we had to file some, you know, bankruptcy and all that kind of crap. And so I couldn't afford the, I think it was $60 a month on the payments on it. I couldn't afford it and they came and snatched it from me. So that was in Denver, so now I'm connecting Denver Chopper has it, right? So as time goes by, we moved back to California and I raised the kids and both my boys and they growing up and they loved choppers and bikes and they had to have the stingrays with the chopper and all that stuff. So when my oldest turned 18, the first thing he says is, "Dad I want a tattoo and I want to get a Harley." And I said, "No, no, no, no, no." So it just kept going from there. He ended up getting, I think it was a '08 Sportster at the time. And you know, he ran that and then my buddy was still in his Harley which he's just won the Grand Nationals a couple of weeks ago. But at any rate, I bought his bike and we rode, you know, and I, you know, through. When they were growing up, I kept telling 'em about this bike. I said, "Yeah, my old bike, it was a beautiful bike." "It had this" and I had about a dozen pictures I would show 'em all the time. Sure. You know, I'm gonna build one of these things. I'm gonna build one of these things. So my buddy, who we were riding and then he built a bike and he started just showing it and we'd go to the shows and I'm thinking, "God, dang it." You know, "He could do, I can do it," you know? So the next couple of years I'm hammering my boys. "Come on," you know, "I wanna build this bike." "Can you build it," you know? "Yeah dad, just God dang, go down and buy one." And I ended up buying a '09 Cross Bones. I traded the one I got from Gino, went and got a Cross Bones and I was riding that. I still got it, I've been riding that. Nice. And Gino kept building bikes, he kept putting his in the show, the Easy Rider shows and the Grand Nationals. Then he built another one, right? So I go to Ron Sims' shop and I'm talking to them, "Can you build a bike, do you remember this bike?" And I'm showing a pic, I don't know. I don't know what you're talking about, you know. They were nice and you know, nothing bad but. We was at the Grand National three years ago and you know, "Where's your bike Gino, where's your bike?" Well, Easy Rider was taking pictures of it. So Denver Choppers was there, and I'm thinking Denver Choppers, that's the guy that's got my bike. Well, that's not the same Denver Choppers. Denver Choppers builds bikes No. and, you know, Is Denver mulins. I don't know crap. You know, I'm just running around. And my son's telling me, "Dad, leave it alone," "leave it alone, just ride your bike, forget about it." So they had been building this, it took 'em four years to build this bike. Wow. And they kept buying pieces, they would buy their frame. And he did research, Josh did research and found the exact frame and then they would ask me and I'd say, "Yes, stretched five inches and it's," you know, "six over and duh duh duh." I didn't even know what that meant. Sure. I just said, that's what I wanted. You know, I'm down there, we're at the show. And I got my iPad and I'm saying, I'm bugging Mondo at Denver Choppers. 'Cause he comes up here all the time and talks to Pat the engine builder. Yep. And I'm going, "Hey, can you build this bike?" "Can you," you know, and I'm talking to him and my son Jason's going, "Dad, will you knock it off!" "Get away from him, he's got stuff to do." You know? And the whole time they're in the middle of building this thing. Right. So then after that, I take my iPad and I was in Pleasanton and I said, "I'm going by and I'm gonna see" "if I can talk to Arlen." Well, I went in there and I had my iPad. I says, "Can I speak to Arlen?" Lo and behold, he comes down. Oh, nice. And so I go, "Hey, do you remember this?" I said, "I got this bike, I'd like to build it." "Supposedly you built it and I don't know." And I showed him the picture and he goes, "I remember that bike." And I thought, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then he goes, "Yeah, that had two tanks to it." "It had a coffin tank and that Sportster tank." And I went, "Whoa," you know? And he said, "You can build it, we can do it for you." "And it's gonna be hard to find a front end." Then I'm getting pissed and I'm like, "God, dang it." You know, I'm telling my boys. So Josh lives in Las Vegas and I went back there to help him move. He bought a new house and I had been there before and I seen the motor sitting there on his shelf. Yep. You know, he was working on this. "What the hell is that?" "That looks just like the one that was on my bike." "Yeah dad, forget it." "We're building a hill climb bike for our club" "and duh duh duh," you know, and you know, okay. So then I come back and then we go back there again and I'm helping him move. Well, he had the roller chassis sitting there and the engine was out. Of course that was apart, he was working on that and I never even seen it. I was, you know, I was surprised. Yep. So they kept telling me just "Dad, let it go, let it go." You know, "You're too old, you'll never," you know, "just forget about it." Sure. Well, September 9th, never forget the day, Josh came out here to visit and he came on a Thursday and he's like, "Dad, let's go over to Jason's" "go over to Jason's" who lives, he lives down the street about five houses. And like, "Ah shit, I'm tired of seeing him." "I don't wanna stay at all, I don't wanna" "[Indistinct] going down there." So, Saturday morning he talks to my wife, he's just, "Come on, let's get dad down there." And we walk over or we drive over there and I get out, I'm walking up the steps holding my granddaughter and he goes, "Go in the garage, go in the garage." So, the garage door rolls up and I walk in there and I'm looking at this thing sitting there and I'm going, "Damn, that looks familiar." And since both guys work for clubs or they're in clubs and they got bikes all the time, Right. I thought, "Well, someone else is having their bike tuned" 'cause Jason's a pretty good tuner. He can figure stuff out really good. And I'm looking at it and the more I looked at it and the whole family's in the garage and they're looking at me and then I'm just like, And I start babbling like a four year old. Yeah. And they go, "It's your bike dad." And it was three hours I was crying. I mean, I couldn't believe it. And I think, I don't know if I sent you a video of me starting it, you know, I'd give it three or four kicks and then You know, and then I'd kick it again. But I rode it and I've been riding it so. Yeah. So your kids built you Kind of interesting how, go ahead. So they built you an exact replica of your original chopper from the seventies? There's the air cleaner is different. Okay. The oil bag that was on that one was chrome, this one's aluminum. Yep. And you hold the two pictures together and you have to pick it out, you know. It's like one of them, Oh yeah. what's different in this picture, you know? Well, that's what I think it was so cool about it They did a really good job. They did and then when you said, they did it off of you had like 10 color actual physical photos that you had from, you know, back in the day. There's one photo I saw with you and your wife on it. And they really recreated this entire bike off 10, just regular four by six photos. Yeah, exactly. And, you know, 'cause I had 'em and I cherished 'em. That was like my pride and joy. And they kept disappearing, my pictures. "Where the hell is that. God damn it, I'm losing my mind." Yeah. You know, well, he had 'em and they were going back and forth. And my son Jason, I don't know how, he made many trips back to Las Vegas to build this thing with them. And they bought, actually bought a front end with a 21 on it Yeah. That wasn't the offset, you know, the narrowed offset here. It wasn't that they just bought it because they wanted to try and get as close to the original as they could so. Right. They bought that, figured it out. Then they found this neuro springer front end. And it's pretty amazing what, you know, the heart that they put into this stuff, you know. All that raising 'em, you know, jumping on 'em or riding them, I guess it paid off. Yeah. Well, it looks killer, absolutely. Thank you so much for taking the time to sit and talk with us about it. I mean, just that story in general, someday when I have kids, I hope they're that good to me. You gotta be strict with them but I got a good pair man. Yeah. They turned out great, they ride with clubs, you know. They do everything for everyone, they're polite with people and you know, Well, that's awesome man. They just turned out really good. Awesome, well, thank you so much Bill for sitting down and talking with us today. I appreciate it. Thanks for thinking of me. Absolutely. Thanks so much, we'll talk later. All right, thanks. Thanks Bill. Well, that's it. And these are the types of builds you can find on Garage Build, not only a killer build in itself but in also a great story. Until next time, go on to Garage Build, check out all the awesome bikes, the awesome builders. And until next time, ride safe, wrench safe and we'll see you on the road.