A Police Harley, circa 1950

As some of you know, I run a page featuring police motorcycles over on the www.motofoto.cc site, and I often receive interesting photos from folks who visit that site.    Here’s one I received earlier today from Mr. Donovan, with his note to me below it…

Al Donovan on his 1950 Police Harley in Clearwater, Florida

Here’s what Al had to say…

Al Donovan on his 1950 Harley 61 ci. It would run 93mph with a tail wind. But with big a big sprocket it was good for a drag which made it practical for city work.  The radio had tubes and we had to keep the transceiver shut off as the battery wouldn’t hold up. To send a message we had to stop and turn it on. The siren was run by friction off the front wheel so it was useless if you slowed way down and stopped. One of my favourite non-approved things to do was to go downtown at late night and rev the engine in a low gear and retard the spark and cut the throttle and enjoy hearing the great loud backfires reverberate off the building walls of the empty businesses. The steering head had damper which was manually tightened or loosened to help control handling. All bikers learned early to retard that spark when kick starting the bike or else it could throw you up and off. My regular police cap was without the wire shape stiffener as with it in the thing would blow off even at slow speeds. So when we ran down the highway it looked really silly as it billowed up like a large blue chef’s cap. My regular beat was Clearwater Beach and the causeway over to the island. We worked 6 days a week back then and the key word was we worked a minimum of 48 hours week. If your day off came on a holiday you just lost it, there was no such thing as overtime. Our starting pay was $150 a month but after a year it rose magnificently to $175. We were allowed to park the bike when it rained or if the temperature got below 32f. That only happened once. I remember one cold day riding by the beach on New Years day and looking at all the Yankee tourists swimming in the water while I had on every bit of clothing I could get on and freezing to death. Ah! The good old days!

Al, you made our day with this photo and your note…thanks very much for sharing it, and the next time you’re in California, please stop by.  We’d love to let you ride one of our California Scooters and get your impressions of how it compares to your police motor!