In the chopper world, mention Loco-Motion and people will usually think Dick Allen. But Loco-Motion was first a knucklehead chopper owned by Nez. He gave Dick the tank and let him use the name. Most people think it comes from a train but Joe told me the name actually comes from the 1962 song The Loco-Motion sung by Little Eva. It was co-wrote by Gerry Goffin and Carol King, yes that Carol King.
Photo of Nez on the original Loco-Motion in front of Joe Hurst's house in 1969. That kid was probably never quite the same. photo courtesy of Joe Hurst.
Here's where it gets interesting. From what I've found, the above photo is not the record's first release cover art, but likely from a later release. It has Loco-Motion in a jumbled type similar to the way it's written on the tank, so I suppose the Nez got the idea from this cover. It does also have a train on it. An internet search will show several other versions of the cover with trains on them too, so in a round about way there is a train connection.
These are the best photos I can find of both versions of the tanks. Nez's original paint on the left (on the Vincent experiment), and Dick's on the right.
4 comments:
This is the original Loco Motion bike ,it balonged to Nez, when he built the next bike he gave the tank to Dick. Dick had it on the red knuckle framed rat strocker when I got it the frame did not hold up at all. I put everything in a 57 staight leg frame(to the same dimensions as the knuckle frame)a couple of years later it became the White Bear bike, and then at about the same time Dick built Loco Motion that everyone came to know.That is the story leaving out some details. I was there living it and it was great. I know this part of Dick's story very well!
Love reading your blog, thanks for the share! Awesome bike!
Hey joe my name is nock allen i clint allens son dick allens grand son my number is 815-540-6492 i would really like tobtalk with ya o idolize my grandpa dick alot and would love to hear from you i appreciate it thanks!
I have a correction on the picture credits. It says the picture was taken in 69' , it was actually taken in 72 or 73. How do I know? I'm the kid in the picture.
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