New Home for Heroes

By Bill Andrews

January 14, 2005 – The new owner of the Heroes of Harley-Davidson exhibit considers himself one lucky guy. It even says that on his calling card—which reads Bob Althoff, W.L.M. Dealer Principal.

W.L.M., Althoff (right) says, stands for World’s Luckiest Man.

“I’ve been a motorcyclist since the day I turned 16,” Althoff says. “I bought my first motorcycle from (Hall of Famer) Dick Klamfoth.”

Althoff, the most recent owner of A.D. Farrow Harley-Davidson, considered himself lucky when he was able to acquire the nearly century-old dealership, allowing him to truly immerse himself in his lifelong hobby.

These days, Althoff considers himself truly fortunate in landing one of the best Harley-Davidson exhibits in the country. He's referring to the Heroes of Harley-Davidson exhibit, which just ended a two-year run at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum and is now being reassembled at A.D. Farrow.

“The main thing was to get a hold of it and carry it on,” Althoff says.

Staff members are also ecstatic about the exhibit.

“This is neat as heck," says Jeff Lanzer (left), who works in motorcycle sales at the dealership. "People will be traveling from all over to see the world’s oldest Harley-Davidson dealership and the Heroes (exhibit).

“It’s exciting. It means there’s a big future here at A.D. Farrow.”

One small problem, though—How does one fit an approximately 9,000-square foot maze of historical displays into an already overcrowded, highly successful, working dealership?

Currently, the exhibit has been divided, with some parts on display in Althoff’s 25,000-square-foot showroom, and other pieces coming together in his 50,000-square-foot service center.

It’s a massive undertaking, and Althoff wisely enlisted the services of the right people to help. Troy Shurtz of Creative Cabinets, who built Heroes the first time at the Museum, is working with Althoff on the reassembly at the dealership.

Unlike the first assembly, where the exhibit was designed to fit the museum’s floor, the challenge this go-around is to fit the pieces within a limited space that's also a working business.

The replica of the original backyard shed where Harley-Davidson was formed, for instance, which Althoff wants to be the centerpiece of the display, is too tall for the showroom. Over the course of a week, Althoff, Shurtz and Scott Ledbetter (a maintenance engineer for Althoff) bounced between setting it up in the service center or raising the lowered ceiling in the showroom. Currently, the disassembled shed is in the service center, but the plan is to erect it in the showroom with a modified ceiling.

For visitors wanting to see the exhibit, some of the Heroes racing walls are currently on display in the showroom, in an area Althoff calls “Highway 1912” (right)—the year A.D. Farrow was founded. The floor resembles a roadway, including yellow dividing stripes, with bikes for sale parked on either side. The entranceway to the area has a pre-existing antique storefront facade (right) and an old-fashioned, working soda shop.

The service center, approximately one city block to the southeast, houses the rest of the exhibit, but is currently not ready for visitors. The original Heroes storefront and board track displays are assembled, awaiting lighting and motorcycles, but other pieces are stacked or leaning against other fixtures.

Ledbetter (left), leading the way in moving and reassembly, says, “Nothing got broke or busted up, so we’re happy with the progress.”

He feels the project can be completed in a month and a half.

Even at that point, though, Althoff says the story will only really be starting. The final objective is to build a permanent museum for Heroes and A.D. Farrow that’ll keep evolving as Harley-Davidson continues into the future.

© 2005, Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum