Pan Head Progress-background and updates

For those that don't know let me give a little history lesson and a few updates. While many projects here at Lemke Industries are for customers this specific project is personal and has been a long time coming. This panhead chopper currently underway was built by my father Gerald Lemke back around 1975ish. He caught the thing on fire at a gas station in Scappoose Oregon and completely rebuilt it in the late 70's. Shortly after rebuilding he blew the engine up and then it sat for years and years. As a child I cannot count how many times I moved this machine and its associated parts from one area of the shop to another and from one house to another. After sitting in my grandmothers shop for many years in the early 2000's I approached my dad about whether or not this thing was ever going to see the light of day again. After some conversations and negotiations due to some other business dealings he had not yet made good on we worked a deal and I acquired the title to one 1948 basket case. I like my father always seemed to busy to get to the bike and moved it from my grandmothers shop in Scappoose to my shop in St Helens. I managed to get the bike tore down a little farther and cataloged some of the components I would have to source. Eventually I made the move to Michigan and as I was not ready to ship everything across the country I took many of the contents, equipment, tools, machinery and the old panhead up to my fathers property for storage in another building until I got settled in the Midwest and got back to things. Well low an behold my father died unexpectedly about 3 years later and in that process I finally brought the old panhead back home here to Michigan. Over the last couple years I have been actively plugging away at brining here back to life and while it has been an undertaking sourcing parts and saving everything I could I cant wait to fire it up and take it for a RIP!!! This thing has not been on the road in over 40 years!!! As of this writing its been stripped, cataloged, and a list of parts to be acquired has been established. The frame and sheet metal were stripped, repaired, body worked, and resprayed Harley Lightning blue. The Pan head engine was tore down, cases were stripped, welded and machined and she's reassembled with an S&S carb and ready to rock!!! The Girder front end was tore down, cleaned up, rebushed, reassembled and installed with a new set of neck bearings. Reassembly of the bike is underway and one part at a time slowly but surely were making progress. Enjoy the project pics, follow the build and like, share, and subscribe while you enjoy the ride!!