"Heroes of Harley-Davidson" presented by Progressive Motorcycle Insurance comes alive!

by Bill Andrews

Museum Director Mark Mederski takes a small group through the new "Heroes of Harley-Davidson" presented by Progressive Motorcycle Insurance exhibit.

Feb. 12, 2003 – A story that's 100 years old and growing is now being told at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum at AMA headquarters in Pickerington, Ohio. The gala opening celebration for "Heroes of Harley-Davidson" presented by Progressive Motorcycle Insurance won't come until May 3, but the exhibit has been installed and is open for business, says Museum Director Mark Mederski.

It's a story that begins at the turn of the century with a couple of fishing buddies trying to come up with a better way to get to their favorite fishing hole. And it continues today as the ongoing story of a multi-billion-dollar corporation built on the love of chrome and V-twin motorcycles.

The exhibit is a historical study of the people and machines that made this American motorcycle manufacturer a modern icon-with an emphasis on the people.

Ed Youngblood, curator for "A Century of Indian," also presented by Progressive Motorcycle Insurance, was once again called upon to help put together the "Heroes" story.

"Youngblood is a great writer, and he worked with a team of historians, archivists, editors, writers, collectors, builders and tuners to get the story," Mederski says.

It took a little over a month to take down the Indian exhibit and put up the new Harley exhibit, which includes 52 motorcycles, in-depth displays and the most impressive installation the museum has undertaken to date.

Realism and a flair for storytelling are hallmarks of the new exhibit.

Mederski talks about a 1905 model while standing in front of the re-created shed (above). The interior of the shed has period tools and other milling machines.

For example, a re-creation of the now-famous backyard shed where William S. Harley and Arthur Davidson created their first motorcycle is a showcase for the level of authenticity Mederski and Youngblood put into the exhibit. Even the rough-hewn wood to create the shed had to be fabricated. True 2x4s, like the type of wood that was available at the beginning of the 20th century, simply isn't available anymore.

"We wanted to make the shed appear to be like the famous Milwaukee shed, including the lettering on the door," says Mederski. "But literally moments before we were about to stencil in the famous 'Harley-Davidson Motor Co.' onto the door, the word came down from Harley-Davidson that there was some doubt as to whether those words actually ever appeared on the door. So, in the spirit of accuracy, we left it off ours."

Though a lot of work was put into making the shed look like the original 10-foot-by-15-foot workshop, nobody knows exactly what the interior looked like. So the museum's shed appears as a reproduction of the type of work area used by other notable inventors during that time period. It's full of the tools that were available at that time, including a line shaft that would have been used to power lathes and other milling machines, via leather belts.

"It's the kind of stuff that Henry Ford, the Wright brothers and Harley would have had and used," says Mederski.

There are many areas in the exhibit where either original motorcycles or faithful restorations are on display to honor the men and women who rode and worked on them.

"At this point, the only things missing are some of the labels," says Mederski. "But all the displays, bikes, vintage equipment, memorabilia and, of course, the shed, are up and in place."

Building the museum's replica of the famous shed:

Components of the shed were fabricated off-site, then brought in and assembled.
Each plank had to be created. True 2x4s, like the type of wood that was available at the beginning of the 20th century, simply aren't available anymore.
The completed shed. Some of the period machine tools are on loan from the Henry Ford Museum. Related story: Building the "Heroes of Harley-Davidson" presented by Progressive Motorcycle Insurance

© 2002, American Motorcyclist Association