Luckily for McClellan and his now ex-girlfriend, the low-speed dump hurt mostly his pride, leaving his 2003 Harley-Davidson police issue Dyna Defender dinged and a little dented. Somehow, as happens with crazy creative types, this all led to a wonderfully awful idea. McClellan had two options after bandaging his wounds and pleading insanity: fix the bike or cleverly camouflage the damaged thing. Being the imaginative thinker and artisan that he is, he of course chose the latter.

McClellan is the inventive mastermind behind Western Heritage Furniture www.westernheritagefurniture.com. Along with his business partner, Tim McCune, and their band of woodmen, the shop offers handcrafted tables, desks, chairs, benches, bars, and mirrors made from reclaimed wood gathered from century-old barns and homesteader buildings, slash and burn piles of old-growth forest and wherever the otherwise lost Douglas fir, cherry wood or pine can be found. As much art as practical furniture, the company’s “Ghostwood Collection” pieces have sold for upwards of $25,000 apiece.

The cop glide was purchased at a municipal discount by virtue of McClellan’s then status as a bona fide city official, although some may say virtue had nothing to do with it. The official Christmas lights and siren were seized by the chief of police in the name of public safety and moral decency. The inspiration for the repair of the Dyna Defender, now stripped naked of its police accoutrements, came from the town of Jerome, AZ itself, where Western Heritage is based. Once declared “the wickedest town in the West” for its lewd public drunkenness, barroom brawls, gambling, general lawlessness, and wanton women by the New York Sun, the “Billion Dollar Copper Camp” is, sadly, long past its boomtown hellfire heyday, although a patina of mischief shines on.

McClellan described present-day Jerome as, “a cross between Twin Peaks, Northern Exposure and The X-Files.” At one time, the population topped 15,000, an unimaginable number for a town a little more than a half-mile in area and now the residence of only 348 living souls by the last census, and a few not so living. The many miles of mines that sprawl under the city streets gave out in 1953 and Jerome fell into ruins, a ghost town of 50 or so, likely less-than-sane citizens who forgot to leave town with the last mining wagon. The undying town’s remains were later inhabited for varying periods by the occasional errant ghoul, poet, hippie, or wayward biker. Some even stayed on, like McClellan. As a nod to the town’s woolly history, he sometimes used copper trim and accents in his furniture. Seemed like what would work for wood, would work for motorcycles.

The front and rear fenders were wrapped in a thin, crinkled copper, similar to heavy-duty aluminum foil but with more of a three-dimensional texture, and secured with an industrial-grade countertop cement. The headlight nacelle, gas caps, air cleaner cover, and tank trim came later and, “has stayed on with vigorous, 100 mph testing,” said the personable and engaging McClellan, who is a man of skill and unusual charm. He is a former town councilman; part owner, with brothers John and Dennis, of Verde Biofuel www.verdebiofuel.com, a used cooking grease-into-fresh bio-diesel fuel processing company; engineer; designer; builder; biker and bon vivant. He is Jerome’s most interesting man, and undisputedly, its most eligible bachelor.

McClellan removed the cushy, cop-butt stock seat, replacing it with a more streamlined and slender one of his personal creation. The seat pan is, of course, made of timber although which kind is yet unknown, finishing it off with his own mounting system and upholstery. Next up are the wheels and pipes. McClellan plans to cover each spoke with copper, leaving the rims untrimmed. The exhaust will be tightly wrapped from head to tail. Since copper’s melting point is nearly 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit and motorcycle pipes will bake at about 700 degrees at the headers, we should not be seeing little copper puddles pooling on the street. Somebody might dig a mineshaft under it.

Knowing pretty much everything that can be bolted on or built into a Harley has been done, McClellan had another epiphany, this one less painful. He realized his own cure for the common bike was unique, and although he probably won’t open a copper custom shop, he may offer the Copper Chopper Kit in various stages, which can be applied to many models. Now all he needs is to get his bike to run on diesel and a large order of French fries.

Tim McClellan can be reached at 928-639-1424, 928-301-1081; emailtimmcc69@gmail.com, and on the web: www.whf-inc.com