Crazy World of the Crocker Motorcycle Pt 2
Elmo Looper worked as a machinist in Los Angeles, for a time at the Crocker motorcycle company, and at the Rollins Mfg Co, just down the street from the Crocker plant. Elmo was a master machinist, and made racing camshafts for the Crocker big twins in the early 1940’s. Elmo owned three Crocker motorcycles, a racing version and a cruiser, of which photos exist. Via his association with the Crocker concern, Elmo acquired parts, tooling, and drawings for the manufacture of these motorcycles. Elmo Looper also produced at least two engines -- fitted to British motorcycle frames, in one case a BSA and the other Norton. Those British-framed machines were given to family members, one being called the “tootie” bike. When Elmo passed on, much of this stock – including factory drawings and tooling – were inherited by his brother, Murray Looper.
In 1970, it’s known that Chuck Vernon purchased V-twin parts, tooling and patterns from Murray Looper in Henderson, being some of the stock formerly produced or owned by Elmo Looper. This stock included a few basket cases, engines, frames, unstamped engine cases, parts, and incomplete motorcycles. Murray Looper provided hand-written receipts for the engine cases and basket cases that had numbers. (Whether that stock included Scootabout or speedway parts is unknown.)
Another Crocker man, Ernie Skelton, appeared on Elmo Looper’s doorstep in the late 1960’s. Skelton purchased a motorcycle and basket case V-twins from Elmo, or from his family. Skelton is reported to have “borrowed” the Crocker factory drawings from the Looper family, but did not return them. Then the Crocker factory drawings entered the wild, with copies made, some forged to give false dimensions so that (presumably) only the forger would know which drawings are correct and which are forged. This rather twisted act – which presumably only a criminal mind might conjure – was to ensure that others would fail in any attempt to produce correct pattern parts made from the forged drawings!
The genuine engine numbers Murray Looper delivered to Chuck Vernon are not specifically and verifiably known, but engine numbers associated with Vernon are as follows: 1X, 5, 18, 39, 56, 62, 102, 112, 117, 252, 253, 255, 309 (Some of which are not original factory numbers; in the next part of this series we will address engine number stamps.) From 1970 or so, Skelton and Vernon worked together producing restorations, some from genuine frames and engines; others perhaps from tooling and molds, or from stamped blank cases, with specific circumstances not definitively known. (According to more than one source, some of the engine cases in Vernon-Skelton’s possession were not numbered.)
Another mystery, Jack Gormley purchased three Crocker V-twin motorcycles from one “Art Smyth” in Nevada… Smyth has never been identified, and by all accounts never existed. Why or how “Art Smyth” appeared is unknown, but has a certain poetic ring; point being that the provenance therein was, and is, still unknown. Murray Looper lived in Henderson … could he have been the mysterious “Art Smyth”? Point being that a finite number of genuine or not Crocker motorcycles existed in other hands, from a few junkers and basket cases to complete motorcycles.
Chuck Vernon became the ‘point man’ for Crocker in 1970 -- selling parts and basket cases -- and compiled owner’s names in the “official” Crocker registry that he maintained. So after 1970, Vernon assumed control of the Crocker registry, the definitive guide regarding the provenance and factory numbering.
Now, that an individual or individuals may have fraudulently padded out the Crocker registry with intent may not be proved, for reasons we shall examine. After 1999, a cottage industry for V-twin reproduction was setup. A Cycle World article about the company is linked here: https://www.cycleworld.com/2012/10/2...ith-a-crocker/ and alleges that fifteen new machines were seen under construction but the Cycle World number is likely an exaggeration. Other fabricators of complete engines/frames are known to exist but will not be named here. V-twins and “Crocker conversions” originate far from 1346 Venice Blvd: some from Canada and Australia.* Likewise, Crocker engine molds have been marketed and sold on ebay:
https://i.postimg.cc/RVXyr6Tk/crock-mold2.jpg
Bottom line, the custodian of the registry may not have known that an example had been fabricated, and that # could have entered the registry when represented by the fabricator as being original.
Now, what about Crocker V-twin numbers overall? According to Al Crocker, by the end of 1936, 12 V-twin engines had been produced (although 16 appeared on Vernon’s 2010 register!) for 1936. So quite remarkably (according to the 2010 registry) all motorcycles of the first year’s production still exist today! In 1993, Vernon claimed that 33 small tank version V-twins were produced; while 15 big tank models were built in 1939-40; with 5 V-twins produced in 1941, and a handful produced in 1942 from left-over parts. In total, Vernon claimed in 1993 that only about 57 V-twins had been produced. See the link here: Cycle World Magazine, January 1993
By 2010 the Crocker registry listed 72 motorcycles as being in existence. Since then, other ‘barn finds’ have appeared, and one new ‘barn find’ was even featured on a TV show. Link: https://i.postimg.cc/Wz4YwgNh/fresno.jpg Now, if we can assume that the ambitious figure of 16 V-twin motorcycles produced per year could be maintained for 5 years -- which certainly did not happen -- that would provide us with an optimistic number of 80 V-twins ever produced. So, we are asked to accept that all ‘original’ Crocker V-twins (or thereabouts) are still with us today! That’s not only optimistic, but an impossibility.
In 2009, the Crocker site 1346Venice wrote that, “Only 64 were ever made” while the official Crocker registry listed 72 known V-twin examples in 2010. The Wheels Through Time Museum, and Solvang Motorcycle Museum, claim that 100 V-twins were built. So how did the Crocker V-twin production expand from an overall number of 57 V-twins in 1993, to a total of 79 motorcycles in existence today, and 100 overall claimed? 22 'barn finds' in that period of time? And especially after the price of these motorcycles went ballistic. It's known that five more V-twins are in the process of being “restored” which will eventually provide us with a whopping total of 84 Crocker V-twins produced, all still with us today! So, more Crocker V-twins will be held in collector hands than were ever produced by the original Crocker company.
It appears that someone, and likely others, discovered that producing a legit Crocker reproduction was not profitable. That’s because NHTSA safety and California exhaust standards make the production of new motorcycles prohibitive, where the 1999 Excelsior-Henderson experiment provides a stellar example. The cost of manufacturing, selling, and servicing a reproduction motorcycle - which sells for perhaps 1/3rd that of an ‘original’ - just does not make sense. But…by some means, if a reproduction motorcycle may somehow enter the register as 'original' and then sold for a huge sum (with no need to supply parts/service later) that’s a scenario that might make $ sense. And prima facie, the scenario that fits known facts.
Now, there is no intent to maintain that all Crocker V-twin motorcycles in existence are false. No doubt genuine examples do exist. The point is, that for a sum total of 84 bikes to exist, greater than the entire company production - with not a single bike lost due to time! - is an absolute fantasy. Since restorers have easy access to Crocker drawings, molds, and reproduction parts, there is every cause to believe that something is amiss in Denmark. Point being, for a greater number of Crocker motorcycles to now exist than were ever manufactured during the 1930’s is an impossibility. Now, as a disclaimer, the author is not providing proof that any specific scam or fraud has been perpetrated with regard to a specific motorcycle.
Even so, there are many questions to be addressed and clarified going forward. For example, why has no new Crocker motorcycle registry been produced since 2010? Let’s speculate. For one thing, the registrar is now deceased. For another, an updated registry must represent an element of fantasy, and legal liability too regarding whoever/whomsoever produces it, should an entry proven to be false. IE a big exposure, should a reproduction motorcycle sold as original then be proved fake, which will discredit not only the registry, but other similarly stamped machines.
The reader may also ask about any regulating body, and why that body would consider the issue of falsified machines selling for many hundreds of thousands to be unimportant? Speculating that such an institution might be the Antique Motorcycle Club of America, or AMCA? So why would the AMCA ignore this issue? The author and related sources will not speculate on that particular matter at this time, due to the sensitive position of certain parties potentially concerned…
To be continued. In the next installment, we will examine engine number stampings.
*An AMCA forum thread appears here: https://forum.antiquemotorcycle.org/...indian-crocker
Montoya
Elmo Looper worked as a machinist in Los Angeles, for a time at the Crocker motorcycle company, and at the Rollins Mfg Co, just down the street from the Crocker plant. Elmo was a master machinist, and made racing camshafts for the Crocker big twins in the early 1940’s. Elmo owned three Crocker motorcycles, a racing version and a cruiser, of which photos exist. Via his association with the Crocker concern, Elmo acquired parts, tooling, and drawings for the manufacture of these motorcycles. Elmo Looper also produced at least two engines -- fitted to British motorcycle frames, in one case a BSA and the other Norton. Those British-framed machines were given to family members, one being called the “tootie” bike. When Elmo passed on, much of this stock – including factory drawings and tooling – were inherited by his brother, Murray Looper.
In 1970, it’s known that Chuck Vernon purchased V-twin parts, tooling and patterns from Murray Looper in Henderson, being some of the stock formerly produced or owned by Elmo Looper. This stock included a few basket cases, engines, frames, unstamped engine cases, parts, and incomplete motorcycles. Murray Looper provided hand-written receipts for the engine cases and basket cases that had numbers. (Whether that stock included Scootabout or speedway parts is unknown.)
Another Crocker man, Ernie Skelton, appeared on Elmo Looper’s doorstep in the late 1960’s. Skelton purchased a motorcycle and basket case V-twins from Elmo, or from his family. Skelton is reported to have “borrowed” the Crocker factory drawings from the Looper family, but did not return them. Then the Crocker factory drawings entered the wild, with copies made, some forged to give false dimensions so that (presumably) only the forger would know which drawings are correct and which are forged. This rather twisted act – which presumably only a criminal mind might conjure – was to ensure that others would fail in any attempt to produce correct pattern parts made from the forged drawings!
The genuine engine numbers Murray Looper delivered to Chuck Vernon are not specifically and verifiably known, but engine numbers associated with Vernon are as follows: 1X, 5, 18, 39, 56, 62, 102, 112, 117, 252, 253, 255, 309 (Some of which are not original factory numbers; in the next part of this series we will address engine number stamps.) From 1970 or so, Skelton and Vernon worked together producing restorations, some from genuine frames and engines; others perhaps from tooling and molds, or from stamped blank cases, with specific circumstances not definitively known. (According to more than one source, some of the engine cases in Vernon-Skelton’s possession were not numbered.)
Another mystery, Jack Gormley purchased three Crocker V-twin motorcycles from one “Art Smyth” in Nevada… Smyth has never been identified, and by all accounts never existed. Why or how “Art Smyth” appeared is unknown, but has a certain poetic ring; point being that the provenance therein was, and is, still unknown. Murray Looper lived in Henderson … could he have been the mysterious “Art Smyth”? Point being that a finite number of genuine or not Crocker motorcycles existed in other hands, from a few junkers and basket cases to complete motorcycles.
Chuck Vernon became the ‘point man’ for Crocker in 1970 -- selling parts and basket cases -- and compiled owner’s names in the “official” Crocker registry that he maintained. So after 1970, Vernon assumed control of the Crocker registry, the definitive guide regarding the provenance and factory numbering.
Now, that an individual or individuals may have fraudulently padded out the Crocker registry with intent may not be proved, for reasons we shall examine. After 1999, a cottage industry for V-twin reproduction was setup. A Cycle World article about the company is linked here: https://www.cycleworld.com/2012/10/2...ith-a-crocker/ and alleges that fifteen new machines were seen under construction but the Cycle World number is likely an exaggeration. Other fabricators of complete engines/frames are known to exist but will not be named here. V-twins and “Crocker conversions” originate far from 1346 Venice Blvd: some from Canada and Australia.* Likewise, Crocker engine molds have been marketed and sold on ebay:
https://i.postimg.cc/RVXyr6Tk/crock-mold2.jpg
Bottom line, the custodian of the registry may not have known that an example had been fabricated, and that # could have entered the registry when represented by the fabricator as being original.
Now, what about Crocker V-twin numbers overall? According to Al Crocker, by the end of 1936, 12 V-twin engines had been produced (although 16 appeared on Vernon’s 2010 register!) for 1936. So quite remarkably (according to the 2010 registry) all motorcycles of the first year’s production still exist today! In 1993, Vernon claimed that 33 small tank version V-twins were produced; while 15 big tank models were built in 1939-40; with 5 V-twins produced in 1941, and a handful produced in 1942 from left-over parts. In total, Vernon claimed in 1993 that only about 57 V-twins had been produced. See the link here: Cycle World Magazine, January 1993
By 2010 the Crocker registry listed 72 motorcycles as being in existence. Since then, other ‘barn finds’ have appeared, and one new ‘barn find’ was even featured on a TV show. Link: https://i.postimg.cc/Wz4YwgNh/fresno.jpg Now, if we can assume that the ambitious figure of 16 V-twin motorcycles produced per year could be maintained for 5 years -- which certainly did not happen -- that would provide us with an optimistic number of 80 V-twins ever produced. So, we are asked to accept that all ‘original’ Crocker V-twins (or thereabouts) are still with us today! That’s not only optimistic, but an impossibility.
In 2009, the Crocker site 1346Venice wrote that, “Only 64 were ever made” while the official Crocker registry listed 72 known V-twin examples in 2010. The Wheels Through Time Museum, and Solvang Motorcycle Museum, claim that 100 V-twins were built. So how did the Crocker V-twin production expand from an overall number of 57 V-twins in 1993, to a total of 79 motorcycles in existence today, and 100 overall claimed? 22 'barn finds' in that period of time? And especially after the price of these motorcycles went ballistic. It's known that five more V-twins are in the process of being “restored” which will eventually provide us with a whopping total of 84 Crocker V-twins produced, all still with us today! So, more Crocker V-twins will be held in collector hands than were ever produced by the original Crocker company.
It appears that someone, and likely others, discovered that producing a legit Crocker reproduction was not profitable. That’s because NHTSA safety and California exhaust standards make the production of new motorcycles prohibitive, where the 1999 Excelsior-Henderson experiment provides a stellar example. The cost of manufacturing, selling, and servicing a reproduction motorcycle - which sells for perhaps 1/3rd that of an ‘original’ - just does not make sense. But…by some means, if a reproduction motorcycle may somehow enter the register as 'original' and then sold for a huge sum (with no need to supply parts/service later) that’s a scenario that might make $ sense. And prima facie, the scenario that fits known facts.
Now, there is no intent to maintain that all Crocker V-twin motorcycles in existence are false. No doubt genuine examples do exist. The point is, that for a sum total of 84 bikes to exist, greater than the entire company production - with not a single bike lost due to time! - is an absolute fantasy. Since restorers have easy access to Crocker drawings, molds, and reproduction parts, there is every cause to believe that something is amiss in Denmark. Point being, for a greater number of Crocker motorcycles to now exist than were ever manufactured during the 1930’s is an impossibility. Now, as a disclaimer, the author is not providing proof that any specific scam or fraud has been perpetrated with regard to a specific motorcycle.
Even so, there are many questions to be addressed and clarified going forward. For example, why has no new Crocker motorcycle registry been produced since 2010? Let’s speculate. For one thing, the registrar is now deceased. For another, an updated registry must represent an element of fantasy, and legal liability too regarding whoever/whomsoever produces it, should an entry proven to be false. IE a big exposure, should a reproduction motorcycle sold as original then be proved fake, which will discredit not only the registry, but other similarly stamped machines.
The reader may also ask about any regulating body, and why that body would consider the issue of falsified machines selling for many hundreds of thousands to be unimportant? Speculating that such an institution might be the Antique Motorcycle Club of America, or AMCA? So why would the AMCA ignore this issue? The author and related sources will not speculate on that particular matter at this time, due to the sensitive position of certain parties potentially concerned…
To be continued. In the next installment, we will examine engine number stampings.
*An AMCA forum thread appears here: https://forum.antiquemotorcycle.org/...indian-crocker
Montoya
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