By now you’ve probably noticed a missing link to all this late model (yes Mr. Knucklehead you’re late model in comparison) engine tomfoolery and that’s the unglamorous, but sometimes respected Flathead. This workhorse design is what every Harley-Davidson engine was from 1903 until the arrival of the OHV Knucklehead in 1936. The big block (74” and 80” models) Model U Flathead models (like our feature bike) were introduced in 1937 and were in production alongside the Knuck until they had gone past their sell-by date in 1948 and ceased production. The smaller 45” Flatty soldiered on in ServiCar duty until 1973 while the K-model, the forerunner to the Sportster, made its first appearance in 1952 and disappeared in 1957 when the OHV Sporty engine set the tone that still lasts to this day. The Flathead was never glamorous in any form, even as a WWII bike, but don’t ever tell that to a Flathead freak and expect to get away unscathed.

 

  What made the Flathead special was its mechanical layout that had the valves running alongside the piston in the block instead of being over the piston’s flame surface in the head. The terminally compact Flatty makes a Panhead look quite tall with all that mumbo-jumbo valve gear up top and this side-valve simplicity make for not only a simple to build and work-on engine, but a tendency to be as reliable as an anvil with most of the technical properties of an anvil too. A really good thing about them back in the day was that they could run on just about any low octane gas you could throw at it back them, but that was also its downfall. You couldn’t get a Flatty to go over 7:1 compression safely which severely limited any serious generation of horsepower, but a reasonable compromise (just ask a Flatty freak) was the production of torque-rich low speed power with no muss/no fuss reliability.

 

   Visually, the preponderance of fins everywhere you look gives a Flatty a simple, but tough mechanical look unlike any OHV engine. The engine becomes one big collection of raw castings with nary a stamped piece of steel cover anywhere in sight. Hey that’s all fine by me and with so many unrideable customs sporting big-inch engines that vibrate like a painful vibraty thing (well, you fill in a cute quip then), a Flathead engine, either an original Harley or a neat late model side valve replica like S&S’ Flathead Power engine series. Hey wait a minute there, S&S’ Flathead Power division doesn’t make a Flathead replica engine, only Knucks, Pans, and Shovels. What up with that Flathead Power by S&S?

 

   So what’s all of this Flathead commotion got to do with our feature bike other than it has a Flathead too? Actually not much, but there is an explanation so here goes. We do know a Mr. James Dean of St. Petersburg, Florida, owns this tricked-out custom Flathead and that he not only entered it in the recent Daytona Bike Week Rat’s Hole Show, but won a trophy for third place in the highly-contested 251cc to 1000cc class where Jack Cofano took these photos. What we don’t have is contact information as the email address we were given bounced back more times than a super ball in a vacuum. With nothing to really go on and a bunch of shots of an interesting and seldom customized Flathead in two-wheeler form instead of the usual three, we couldn’t just let the photos go to waste. Oh sure, I could state the obvious like it has a tricked-out candy apple red paintjob with skull graphics or that it has a springer front end, but I think you’re pretty sharp yourself and could pick this stuff out yourself. What you might not know . . . oh forget it, I’ve got nothing. Enjoy the pics and I hope James Dean is getting his contact info correct and ready for the next encounter with a photographer. It only seems fitting we finally run into a cool Flatty and there’s no way to show the love it deserves as the grand pappy of everything we know as Harley-Davidson today.