Jimmy's Shrine

JIMMY'S SHRINE

Another bike/car connection

JIMMY SHINE IS HOT. NOT IN the ticked-off sense, though in photos the man can give good sneer. Nope, as in hot property. Little Jimmy Falschlehner began sticking metal together at age 9; now 33, lie's the star fabricator at So-Cal Speed Shop, in demand to lay hands on everything from Bonneville streamliners to rock stars' nostalgia rods. His own radically chopped bare-metal '34 Ford pickup has been called the “ultimate rat-rod" and is by lar the most photographed custom of recent years. A website/blog (www.jimmyshine.com) is up and running. TV producers want to talk.

Motorcycles are a sidelight, but the client list is none too shabby including Billy Idol, Mickey Rourke and Bruce Springsteen. The bike shown here is Shine s latest, built lor himself. It is, no exaggeration, maybe the best put-together motorcycle I've ever seen. By comparison, a Bimota's buildquality looks more like a sloppy high-school shop project. It's a machine that demands a hands-and-knees examination, and the closer you get, the better it looks.

Not that everyone “gets” it. Shine entered his bike in

Pomona’s Grand National Roadster Show last January, and while ordinary choppers inexplicably walked off with all the motorcycle trophies, Jimmy's bobber got...nothing from the judges. Apparently their seeing-eye dogs were doubleparked and they somehow overlooked Shine's handiwork.

Had they been tuned in, they'd have been blown away by the engine, an 88-incher that artfully blends Evo cases, Shovelhead barrels and Panhead top-ends. Bill Chambers Racing did the build; a crate motor it ain't. Also worth bonus points, the 1936 tin outer that morphs seamlessly into a modern primary cover. Likewise the foot controls fashioned from Ford Model A pedals. 11¡decore Leather hand-tooled the seat, floorboard covers and handgrips, a nice, earthy touch. And how cool is that minicenterstand attached to the Atlas frame’s lower rails?

The bike’s most illuminating piece, though, is the battery holder, almost hidden below the seat and behind the oil tank. It's actually an old ammo box that’s been chopped, channeled, metalworked to a faretheewell then dipped in chrome. Now ihm s hot. David Edwards