Classic
Spagthorpe:
Great Dane
The Great Dane was a
prototype that collapsed under its own weight during centerstand testing
at the Dunraven Proving Grounds, with
the loss of all hands. The project was abandoned soon after, and the engineering
records destroyed when the administrative offices were burned during the
labor unrest that marked the venture's final years. Like pieces of
the True Cross, parts of that Great Dane surface in estate auctions and
bankruptcy proceedings all over the civilized world; but, like their religious
counterpart, they are too large and too numerous to be parts of the original
bike. And the lack of engineering drawings has been a thorn in the side
of motorcycle historians for years. Those of us who eagerly await a "second
coming" of the Spagthorpe will probably never know the rapture of laying
eyes on Julian's one missing creation.
Copyright
© 2000, 2001 by The Spagthorpe Motorcycle Company®
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