Left: Original Dunlop Gold Cup tires. Below left: A few items Gene left in the saddlebags. Right: The parts-bin Chief was assembled from a mix of civilian and police-spec parts.
local hardware store and finding a stranger sitting on the bike. When Gene told him to get off, the man lazily dragged the heel of his boot across the top of the painted rear fender, leaving a deep scratch. Furious, Gene decided to park it permanently, knowing the bike could never be replaced. That likely occurred in 1955 or’ 56. The Chief was relegated to a spot in a dark corner of the shop, chained to a post and hidden under a cover.
For the most part, the bike remained in that dark corner for decades. As a kid, I was always anxious to pull off the cover and climb on the Chief. Eventually I was permitted to do so with supervision. As I grew, Gene encouraged me to stand on the wide black pedal and give it my all to swing the kicker arm through. He would laugh as I threw what weight I had into it but was barely able to budge the lever. As encouragement, he promised he would wheel the Chief out into the main part of the shop and we would fire it up once I demonstrated the ability to kick it all the way through.
During every visit to the shop, which was quite often back then, I worked on my technique and found ways to distribute my weight enough to move the lever a little farther through its arc. Finally, when I was about 12 years old, I had it nailed, and Gene gladly showed me the starting procedure. From that point on, I regularly gave the Chief a few assertive kicks to spin the internal engine parts and move the oil around. Occasionally, when he wasn’ t too busy with customers, I talked Gene into letting me start it. Each time the bike emerged from the dark corner, we’ d roll it out into the sun for pictures. A few of those photos are included here and go far in documenting the bike’ s consistent state through its 45 or so years at the old shop.
When my grandfather passed away, the tangerine Chief was put in Gene’ s daughter’ s name( my mother) and moved to her home near Pittsburgh, where I continued to maintain it. Shortly after, it was transferred to me, and I’ ve cared for it ever since. The Chief has remained
Seen here with Gene in 1993, the author’ s brother Rob – a successful studio singer and commercial actor in Los Angeles – used the Chief in his promotional materials.
24 | OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2025 | AMERICANRIDER. COM