I have seen one in a private collection of a friend of mine. It is all original including paint and runs great. These are very rare and are a piece of artwork
Gads! A Crocker! I've been riding since 1958. Started on a 1949 Indian Arrow. Since I first heard about a Crocker I've been fascinated by them. I heard that Indian did some under the table supply to Al Crocker so they could get parts like tires and rims that Harley was blocking. I can see a lot of Indian influence in the Crocker. The primary and cam cover are basically the same. The front for is similar to the pre-war Scout and the Edison mag. Heard a rumor that Indian was attempting to buy out Crocker and sell the bike with Indian name plates but WWII got in the way. I've GOT to get to N.C. and see your bikes! Maybe next year.
What a Crock ! ... the paint scheme and raw metal details really make that bike ! .. and I'll never complain about a slightly 'ticky' hydraulic lifter ever again...
My wife and I visited the museum a few years back and on that particular day when we walked through I saw the Crocker and after the walk through a second Crocker was wheeled out from I suppose the shop. They are a stunning motorcycle and much physically smaller than I supposed. I'd read about them in an old Hot Bike magazine in an article by Cliffside Gromer back 50 or more years ago; he called it "a vibrating ,dirty old gas hog" but he said it was faster than any HD. I also had the opertunity to speak with Dale about a bike he bought from an old friend of mine, a Flying Merkel that somebody painted green and a bad paint job at that. Keep up the good work and preserve our 2 wheeled history Matt.
I was 14 when my dad took me to WTT in 2005. I knew about the Crocker and the cast aluminum gas tank. A man walked up and started talking to me about the bike, took the gas cap off and let me feel how thick it was. He then proceeded to start it up and peel out of the museum!!! I was shook, who was that man? Did he just steal that Crocker!?!? That is how I met your father. Dale Walksler gave me a memory I will always cherish. RIP
I live ten blocks away from where they built these masterpieces on Venice blvd. and if I pass by with my bike I can tell she wants to slow down to pay respect to little red brick building. The sliding of the rear end while revving and the silver champagne tray as oil collector are already classics just like your Pa's burnouts! Well done Matt!
If I could pick one bike from Wheels Through Time, it would be The Crocker. After seeing it on Discovery Channel, I've been waiting for this one! Thanks Matt, and You Too Dale!
Ever since I ran my Pan head at the Oakland Roadster show sitting next to a Crocker I've wanted one. A beautiful American icon. We both took first in our class and the Crocker took the best of show, a well-deserved win.
Thank you all for doing this for us. I’m a disabled veteran and it means a lot wish I could help with the fund raising money is always stretched for me
In 1988 I worked with a great guy named John Mulrean in San Diego on English bikes. At Costa Mesa swap meet I set up our stand while he went early shopping and a drunken biker stopped by the booth spilling his beer all over and telling me about having a bunch of English bikes and NOS parts for sale at his house. Said he rode a Harley to the swap meet but had an Indian, a knuckle, pan head, and a Crocker in addition to 30+ English bikes. Invited us to come by after the meet and maybe buy some bikes and parts because he needed money to finish his Crocker and left his address and number and stumbled away 😂😂😂 Well I thought he was a serious bullshitter but told my buddy John and he said let’s check it out on the way home as it was on the way. Well, he was for real the Crocker was on the bench nearly completed and everything else was there in three different garages! We bought 5 bikes and a ton of unobtainium NOS parts, new Matchless tanks and tool boxes in factory boxes, fenders, etc. I thought it was a waste of time until we saw it all! I’m now wondering if your Crocker was his? Can’t remember his name though, wish I could! The timing sounds like it could have been his bike? We found a number of cool deals in the day One time we found a guy who had been a bike dealer in Fallbrook Ca years ago and went and loaded a box truck full of parts and parts bikes that were outdoors for years and there was a Norton Atlas basket case that we primed the oil lines and filled the fuel line and it started and idled on the first kick when we got it home!🤣👍
... it's redundant and an unnecessary use of descriptive adjectives to say 'drunken biker', just say biker.. and it's all good.. hope you offered him a 6 pack of his choice after turning you on to such a choice find... ride on.
There was only 50 odd built and they are virtually all to slightly different spec and design, Mr Bigsby was always improving the design. They are also stupidly valuable, up beyond Brough Superiors, because they are so rare and so advanced for their time. So I expect this buddy of yours has sold it, it’s a nice retirement fund.
what a glorious bike. Its even better when you can touch it. I am so glad I made it back in 2019. Thanks Matt, I wish i could have met Dale. Yall have a great treasure of motorcycle history. The crocker is a beauty!
I went there in 2018 and enjoyed every bike and commented that I could go back the next day and see bikes that I missed. Since then I have watched several of Matt’s videos and love how each and every one has their on story. I would like to live closer so that I might visit more often. Such a wonderful place and all the people that work there is very friendly and knowledgeable. I hope to go back again this spring I’ve COVID doesn’t interfere.
I sure hope the museum survives and we can come back in person. Thanks for the channel, it's been a lot of fun to hear the history and hear these beauties run.
Wow again that something I thought I'd never see heard of it but never seen that beauty of the most outstanding thx for shearing 100% amazed given me goosebumps 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺😎😎😎
That could be the most beautiful bike I've ever seen... It really checks off all the boxes for what I truly love in a bike. I'm early in this segment but I've got to ask who did the restoration? It's beyond words...
Amazing. The engine sounds glorious. Crocker seems to have been somewhat ahead of his time- or maybe it's just that this machine shows such purity in the intent and execution, such singular focus and attention to detail, that it stands outside of time, larger than life.
I remember visiting Wheels Through Time around probably 2007 or 2008 with my family. I was only about 11 or 12 at the time but I absolutely loved it! I vividly remember the Coca-Cola bike!
I would never have heard about the museum had they not started the YT series! As soon as the virus thing has run its course, I'M THERE!!!! Bike trip to WTT!!! No better mini-vacation destination I can think of!!
The first time I saw the coca cola bike was in Daytona Beach bike week about 1975 I think.An the second was at wheels through time in about 2007 I was really surprised to see it.
@@wheelsthroughtime I was actually up around your way yesterday with a friend, I suggested that we stop by and see yall but then remembered that yall were closed :'( I'm back home in Raleigh now so I'm not too far out
Jesus did you just make me realize how damn old i am,while you were 11 years old visiting the museum i was just retired at 62 ,id give anything to do it all over again .
This bike and a few others that I can see are awesome. Thanks for video sharing your collection. I never knew this place existed until you started to video.
I went to the 2000 Sotheby's auction in Chicago (where I bought Dean Rigsby's "civilianized" Indian 841) and was surprised to see not one, but THREE Crockers for sale. All in similar condition to yours. Two sold for $81,500 each, the third did not sell. When I recently saw that Mecum hammered one (a1941 big tank) for $640K, it made me realize I bought the wrong bike. Definitely out of the reach of a mere mortal now. Sotheby's scheduled 2001 auction on September 14th never happened, and was never to return.
Man, I've been in love with Crockers since the first time I ever saw one. I might give the nod to Cyclone for being the first American "superbike", though. Overhead cam, hemi head, 45 horsepower, in 1915! Pretty sure that's about double what anybody else was getting back then.
I am a kiwi, if I could have two V twins I would have a Britten and this bike. Apart from the very impressive performance, taken in context, the engineering innovation, it is the intangibles, esoteric stuff I don't get. Words like elegance and proportion, form and function interface, really is something very special.
In memory of your honorable father I've been watching as many of his videos as I can and I just watched the video of Dale saying that the absolutely first superbikes ever made was the 19---i cant remember Excelsior super X and he started it up for a crowd that he had and he almost blew the roof off the museum and some of the guys watching your dad run the bike had to hold their hands over their ears!!! Lol
Gorgeous bike, wicked sounding, but I think it would sound even better with separate mufflers for each cylinder. I love the look of the exposed valves.
Sorry nobody responded to you before now. Usually, on theses older bikes, 2 of the caps would be for fuel...and the 3rd would be for a partitioned off area in the tank that holds oil for the engine. The really old bikes used a total loss oil system and oil had to drip in constantly. There was a petcock just like for the fuel. Maybe this one just used a little every time it ran for a while and could be replenished from the tank after a couple hundred miles.
Now at 90 and collecting m/c stories for years, from Rollie Free, Sammy Pierce, Burt Munro, Joe Petralli, et al, I loved this Crocker presentation: I was led to believe that the buyer had to supply his own wheels as the larger m/c firms coerced wheel manufacturers to refuse orders from Al Crocker/
Anyone know where to get any old section drawings of the Crocker engine..? Just curious as to how they are made. So little info on them it’s criminal. One of the most beautiful things ever made. And it can still kick ass!
Your dad was a very nice and good guy. When I visited the museum years ago, he gave us a personal tour and did a burnout with that Crocker.
Late to the party, again!
If I were to get a custom frame made today, I would hand the builder that picture. Perfect lines.✌️❤️🙂🇨🇦
Damn, the historical knowledge that Matt just sorta tosses out in passing ... absolute gems. That Crocker is a magnificent monster!
Nothing built today can ever match that level of craftsmanship. That open valve train is a work of art! 🇺🇸 Awesome content!!!
I have seen one in a private collection of a friend of mine. It is all original including paint and runs great. These are very rare and are a piece of artwork
Gads! A Crocker! I've been riding since 1958. Started on a 1949 Indian Arrow. Since I first heard about a Crocker I've been fascinated by them. I heard that Indian did some under the table supply to Al Crocker so they could get parts like tires and rims that Harley was blocking. I can see a lot of Indian influence in the Crocker. The primary and cam cover are basically the same. The front for is similar to the pre-war Scout and the Edison mag. Heard a rumor that Indian was attempting to buy out Crocker and sell the bike with Indian name plates but WWII got in the way. I've GOT to get to N.C. and see your bikes! Maybe next year.
What a Crock ! ... the paint scheme and raw metal details really make that bike ! .. and I'll never complain about a slightly 'ticky' hydraulic lifter ever again...
My wife and I visited the museum a few years back and on that particular day when we walked through I saw the Crocker and after the walk through a second Crocker was wheeled out from I suppose the shop. They are a stunning motorcycle and much physically smaller than I supposed. I'd read about them in an old Hot Bike magazine in an article by Cliffside Gromer back 50 or more years ago; he called it "a vibrating ,dirty old gas hog" but he said it was faster than any HD. I also had the opertunity to speak with Dale about a bike he bought from an old friend of mine, a Flying Merkel that somebody painted green and a bad paint job at that. Keep up the good work and preserve our 2 wheeled history Matt.
Thanks for the kind words!
I was 14 when my dad took me to WTT in 2005. I knew about the Crocker and the cast aluminum gas tank. A man walked up and started talking to me about the bike, took the gas cap off and let me feel how thick it was. He then proceeded to start it up and peel out of the museum!!! I was shook, who was that man? Did he just steal that Crocker!?!? That is how I met your father. Dale Walksler gave me a memory I will always cherish. RIP
I live ten blocks away from where they built these masterpieces on Venice blvd. and if I pass by with my bike I can tell she wants to slow down to pay respect to little red brick building.
The sliding of the rear end while revving and the silver champagne tray as oil collector are already classics just like your Pa's burnouts!
Well done Matt!
What's the address? I'd like to Google it.
@@luisllorens70 1346 Venice Blvd.
@@louvedova7907
Thanks.
If I could pick one bike from Wheels Through Time, it would be The Crocker. After seeing it on Discovery Channel, I've been waiting for this one! Thanks Matt, and You Too Dale!
I watched Dale do burn out's on that machine in the building sveral years ago! I sat and talked to him about it. he was a Great Host!!
Thank you so VERY much. Bringing the motorcycles to us. This Crocker is so beautiful....
Ever since I ran my Pan head at the Oakland Roadster show sitting next to a Crocker I've wanted one. A beautiful American icon. We both took first in our class and the Crocker took the best of show, a well-deserved win.
Thank you all for doing this for us. I’m a disabled veteran and it means a lot wish I could help with the fund raising money is always stretched for me
THANK YOU MR. DULEY FOR YOUR SERVICE. AMERICA THANKS YOU. 🇺🇸
Patrick Duley Thank you for your service and thanks for watching!
In 1988 I worked with a great guy named John Mulrean in San Diego on English bikes.
At Costa Mesa swap meet I set up our stand while he went early shopping and a drunken biker stopped by the booth spilling his beer all over and telling me about having a bunch of English bikes and NOS parts for sale at his house. Said he rode a Harley to the swap meet but had an Indian, a knuckle, pan head, and a Crocker in addition to 30+ English bikes.
Invited us to come by after the meet and maybe buy some bikes and parts because he needed money to finish his Crocker and left his address and number and stumbled away 😂😂😂
Well I thought he was a serious bullshitter but told my buddy John and he said let’s check it out on the way home as it was on the way.
Well, he was for real the Crocker was on the bench nearly completed and everything else was there in three different garages!
We bought 5 bikes and a ton of unobtainium NOS parts, new Matchless tanks and tool boxes in factory boxes, fenders, etc.
I thought it was a waste of time until we saw it all!
I’m now wondering if your Crocker was his?
Can’t remember his name though, wish I could!
The timing sounds like it could have been his bike?
We found a number of cool deals in the day
One time we found a guy who had been a bike dealer in Fallbrook Ca years ago and went and loaded a box truck full of parts and parts bikes that were outdoors for years and there was a Norton Atlas basket case that we primed the oil lines and filled the fuel line and it started and idled on the first kick when we got it home!🤣👍
... it's redundant and an unnecessary use of descriptive adjectives to say 'drunken biker', just say biker.. and it's all good.. hope you offered him a 6 pack of his choice after turning you on to such a choice find... ride on.
@@rockymnthodad3047 clown .
There was only 50 odd built and they are virtually all to slightly different spec and design, Mr Bigsby was always improving the design. They are also stupidly valuable, up beyond Brough Superiors, because they are so rare and so advanced for their time. So I expect this buddy of yours has sold it, it’s a nice retirement fund.
@@johnniethepom2905 Simmer down,they's makin' a funny. Couldn't you tell by "redundant and an unnecessary "?
I am so grateful for your work. I live in Poland and have no way to travel to the US. This is just what I dreamed of.
God bless your Dad for having the vision to buy that.
Thanks for the rumble.
I can see why you’re Dad was especially fond of this motorcycle , it’s an interesting and Uniquely Beautiful ! One of my favourites !!!
what a glorious bike. Its even better when you can touch it. I am so glad I made it back in 2019. Thanks Matt, I wish i could have met Dale. Yall have a great treasure of motorcycle history. The crocker is a beauty!
Crocker is a way to go! Bobber style right from factory!
That’s one of the best looking bikes I’ve ever seen. Own that and a 59 Les Paul and you could die happy 😄
My most favorite motorcycle of the museum!
I can't deal with how gorgeous that thing is! Thanks for this video. Cheers from NYC 🥂
We have a 1940 Crocker at our local motorcycle 🏍 museum, it is a beautiful bike
I saw that bike when Dale had it in My Vernon, Il. Your dad did talk it up even then. 🙂 It's a beautiful bike, good to see it again...
I first learned about the Crocker while reading Early Riders in the mid 90s. Amazing machines.
you reckon she is making 70hp?
I went there in 2018 and enjoyed every bike and commented that I could go back the next day and see bikes that I missed. Since then I have watched several of Matt’s videos and love how each and every one has their on story. I would like to live closer so that I might visit more often. Such a wonderful place and all the people that work there is very friendly and knowledgeable. I hope to go back again this spring I’ve COVID doesn’t interfere.
Saw one as a teen been looking no luck yet over 50 years dam all most done oh well thanks for your time love it
What a fine piece of History is a Super bike.....Thanks very much...!
im watching all your vids, i LOVE THE STORIES, i LOVE THE HISTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I sure hope the museum survives and we can come back in person. Thanks for the channel, it's been a lot of fun to hear the history and hear these beauties run.
Unbelievable how smooth and clean it ran given its era.
Dude you just blew my mind with this presentation! Never thought I'd hear a Crocker!
Wow again that something I thought I'd never see heard of it but never seen that beauty of the most outstanding thx for shearing 100% amazed given me goosebumps 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺😎😎😎
My favorite machine so far!
That could be the most beautiful bike I've ever seen... It really checks off all the boxes for what I truly love in a bike. I'm early in this segment but I've got to ask who did the restoration? It's beyond words...
Everything Hand Made!!!!! These guys were great mechanics
Just looking at the thing, it looks so narrow and light, and I can see the "superbike" in it. Awesome.
Crocker and Ace 4 - pure lust!
I got some good pics of the WTT Crockers a few years ago at the Oley, PA AMCA meet. Along with SEVERAL others.
That's thing is incredible!
Incredible craftmanship and attention to detail .
That is definitely the most awesome bike ever….I love it…and sounds awesome like no other…. Thanks buddy
Cant wait till you are open . Taking a road trip to your place 😎♥️🇺🇸
That bike sounds soooo..good!
Can't wait to see it in person.
What a bike! Thank You for sharing her with all of us! Boy, does that sound amazing!!! Great proportions...it just looks ‘right’
Amazing. The engine sounds glorious. Crocker seems to have been somewhat ahead of his time- or maybe it's just that this machine shows such purity in the intent and execution, such singular focus and attention to detail, that it stands outside of time, larger than life.
What an awesome looking and sounding machine…!!!👍
I remember visiting Wheels Through Time around probably 2007 or 2008 with my family. I was only about 11 or 12 at the time but I absolutely loved it! I vividly remember the Coca-Cola bike!
I would never have heard about the museum had they not started the YT series! As soon as the virus thing has run its course, I'M THERE!!!! Bike trip to WTT!!! No better mini-vacation destination I can think of!!
The first time I saw the coca cola bike was in Daytona Beach bike week about 1975 I think.An the second was at wheels through time in about 2007 I was really surprised to see it.
StickPeopleAndPuff The Coke Bike is still here! Come see us when we open for the 2020 Season on Oct 1.
@@wheelsthroughtime I was actually up around your way yesterday with a friend, I suggested that we stop by and see yall but then remembered that yall were closed :'( I'm back home in Raleigh now so I'm not too far out
Jesus did you just make me realize how damn old i am,while you were 11 years old visiting the museum i was just retired at 62 ,id give anything to do it all over again .
Outstanding presentation! Thanks for sharing this awesome machine. So beautiful!
This bike and a few others that I can see are awesome. Thanks for video sharing your collection. I never knew this place existed until you started to video.
Beautiful machine !!!
Beauty,thank you for the show.
I went to the 2000 Sotheby's auction in Chicago (where I bought Dean Rigsby's "civilianized" Indian 841) and was surprised to see not one, but THREE Crockers for sale. All in similar condition to yours. Two sold for $81,500 each, the third did not sell. When I recently saw that Mecum hammered one (a1941 big tank) for $640K, it made me realize I bought the wrong bike. Definitely out of the reach of a mere mortal now. Sotheby's scheduled 2001 auction on September 14th never happened, and was never to return.
Wow awesome bike way ahead of its time
Thanks Matt and Dale
Wow love this bike never seen one here in england .thankyou so much for showing this
They are incredible bikes. I have a friend that has one in his private collection ,it is all original and is the only one I have ever seen and it runs
What a beautiful bike 👌👌💯💯👍👍
Gorgeous bike. Your knowledge and passion are truly inspiring 🥰
That is one sweet machine! I’m amazed with every video, always something special to show.
Thanx for sharing.
fantastic collection, would love to see WTT explore some of the memorabilia seen in these videos.
Unbelievable Machine!!! Thanks for sharing all the info and Sound!
Man, I've been in love with Crockers since the first time I ever saw one. I might give the nod to Cyclone for being the first American "superbike", though. Overhead cam, hemi head, 45 horsepower, in 1915! Pretty sure that's about double what anybody else was getting back then.
Remembering the episode when you guys find the crocker engine
Thats a very Cool bike indeed
Thanks for all the videos you show! Very informative.
always liked how the kicker pedal would spin when you crack the throttle on any twin
Thanks for this. Would love to see more content about Crocker bikes.
Beautiful sounding bike!!
Awesome peace of machinery. Great video !
Absolutely gorgeous bike! Thanks for showing all the beautiful bikes Matt😎
Beautiful bike , Thanks for sharing.
Love what you are doing!!!
I am a kiwi, if I could have two V twins I would have a Britten and this bike. Apart from the very impressive performance, taken in context, the engineering innovation, it is the intangibles, esoteric stuff I don't get. Words like elegance and proportion, form and function interface, really is something very special.
In memory of your honorable father I've been watching as many of his videos as I can and I just watched the video of Dale saying that the absolutely first superbikes ever made was the 19---i cant remember Excelsior super X and he started it up for a crowd that he had and he almost blew the roof off the museum and some of the guys watching your dad run the bike had to hold their hands over their ears!!! Lol
Beautiful bike.
Love all your videos Lee them coming
Gorgeous bike, wicked sounding, but I think it would sound even better with separate mufflers for each cylinder. I love the look of the exposed valves.
They have a one in Solvang,Ca Motorcycle Museum
BEAUTIFUL!
I love this bike. If you watch the fuel line at 10:00 you will see a tiny leak, thought you should know.
yeah i saw some petrol dripping.. nothing a thread seal tape cant solve..
That was part of the reason for the pie tin under the bike...
@@SierraThunder i tot they kept a cat around there in the museum...
I m A HD OWNER RIDER I APPRECIATE YOUR PROFESSIONAL TEACHING AND HISTORY KNOWLEDGE ☠☠☠🇺🇸🍺✊
rest in peace Dale
That bike ROCKS!!
Lovely bike! And the rear wheel stands still even when revving up. Must be a good clutch.
amazing motorcycle !! it s a piece of art especially the engine .
Absolutely stunning!
At 10:00 you can see the cable that goes to the sparkplug rubbing against one of the valve rockers, it'll probably cause damage over time.
Beautiful!
One beautiful bike
I can't stop seeing that drip pan
Maybe I misses it, what's with the 3 fuel caps on the tank? Very cool bike.
Sorry nobody responded to you before now. Usually, on theses older bikes, 2 of the caps would be for fuel...and the 3rd would be for a partitioned off area in the tank that holds oil for the engine. The really old bikes used a total loss oil system and oil had to drip in constantly. There was a petcock just like for the fuel. Maybe this one just used a little every time it ran for a while and could be replenished from the tank after a couple hundred miles.
Such an awesome bike
Now at 90 and collecting m/c stories for years, from Rollie Free, Sammy Pierce, Burt Munro, Joe Petralli, et al, I loved this Crocker presentation: I was led to believe that the buyer had to supply his own wheels as the larger m/c firms coerced wheel manufacturers to refuse orders from Al Crocker/
Now THAT got my attention. What a bad ass machine. Hemi 👍👍. I just subscribed !
Super Friggin Cool... And of Course Harley wasn't Happy about this one. Ha ha!... Thanks for Sharing... Brother
What a treasure.
Anyone know where to get any old section drawings of the Crocker engine..? Just curious as to how they are made. So little info on them it’s criminal. One of the most beautiful things ever made. And it can still kick ass!