Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Sano Trike Origins II, Wild Child's Customs

Back in March 2010 I did a post called Sano Trike Origins which featured the Himsl bodies, Roth's Candy Wagon, Ed Newton, and the David Mann art shown below. I was wondering who was the first to come up with this style of trike and was leaning towards giving Dave the credit, but as many know, Dave had a habit of using real bikes for his art's inspiration.     
Detail from Dave Mann Painting, Ride Hard Die Fast.

I've been meaning to update this story for some time as I had found several photos of another trike that I believe to be the grand daddy of this style.

Three trikes from Jim Greene's of Wild Child's Custom Shop. The one in the foreground is the most famous and known as Wild Child, but check out the one in the back left! The body work is pretty similar to Dave's painting. I believe it predates Roth's Candy Wagon plus we know that Roth knew Jim and featured the Wild Child (foreground), trike in Choppers Magazine. Not to mention there is a photo of Roth with that trike that had circulated the blogs.

Here's a good photo showing some details. The body work is pretty similar to the one in Dave's painting, but features two pipes on each side. The pipes are easier to see in the photo below.

I rediscovered this old Street Chopper photo while looking up another article. If it has a single down tube make it a double. If it has a double make it a single. That's the custom way.

2 comments:

yo2 said...

Very kool, that three wheeler of Jims was the slickest, deepest black paint i have ever seen then the multicolored metal flake flames up either side of the seat was incredable.That photo. was taken inside of old municipal. auditorium in kcmo .Im 62 now all those memories shaped my love of kool bikes and custom cars.

Anonymous said...

Yep after all those wheelies, I got that hand made springer all straightened out and rechromed just like it was in 1968