I hope y'all like museums because I've got another visit to share.
Doc's Harley-Davidson is located half an hour North West of Green Bay, Wisconsin. On site is a Harley-Davidson dealership, a Harley-Davidson Rider Academy, a wild assortment of custom sculpture creations, a car and cycle museum with much more than just cars and cycles, a BBQ restaurant, the "Timeline" motorcycle, an antique mall, a zoo, a lawnmower, UTV, and Argo dealership... and probably more that I'm forgetting
Hours: Open daily, museum is inside the dealership, see hours listed at the bottom of https://docshd.com/contact-us
Address: Doc's Harley-Davidson of Shawano County W2709 State Highway 29 Bonduel, WI 54107
Admission: Free
There are probably interviews with Doc out there, but he was nice enough to take the time to share his story and give a full tour of the shop and museum so I figure I'll relay some of that account here. The story of the shop is that Steve "Doc" Hopkins took the nickname Doc from his father's profession and started "Doc's H.D. Repair" April 1st, 1979 with a garage rented at $75/mo. Before he officially opened he had already done a repair for $75 so he knew he'd be in business for at least a month. He took on a lot of engine and transmission work from a nearby dealership. He expressed interest in buying the dealership, and ended up working out a deal to buy it as the owner was worried Harley-Davidson was about to go under. In 1981 senior execs (including Willie G. Davidson) at Harley-Davidson bought the company back from AMF and avoided liquidation. "The Eagle Soars Alone!"
Harley allocated new motorcycles to dealerships based on population for the location that the dealership was in. This worked out to only 7 new motorcycles per year for Doc's dealership because Shawano County is very rural, much of it being a US Indian Reservation, the Menominee Reservation. Doc made use of a loophole in that Harley-Davidson would let dealerships order anything as parts, cue Johnny Cash's One Piece at a Time. This started a custom motorcycle program where rather than ordering a new Harley-Davidson, having the dealership receive it, then paying for the labor and duplicate parts to customize it, Doc's HD would just walk through every component with a customer asking what options they wanted, chrome or painted, and then they'd order those parts and assemble a custom motorcycle for the customer. The custom motorcycle program was a big success. Doc is "retired" now, spending more time on hobby projects and competing in the Motorcycle Cannonball events. His daughter (who races nitro Harleys) and her husband manage the dealership, his son is a Master Technician in the service department.
1921 Indian Powerplus
The "Timeline Motorcycle" inside the Timeline Saloon BBQ restaurant. The motorcycle seats 10 and has 7 different models of Harley-Davidson air-cooled engines arranged chronologically. What's most impressive about this creation is that it runs and has been ridden!
Successor to the Excelsior Welbike, Corgis were small folding motorcycles built to be dropped from planes for use by airborne divisions. In the USA they were branded as the Indian Papoose and look great considering their proportions.
Nitro Harley Pro Dragsters. The one on the left with flames, not captured well in this photo, has done the quarter mile in 7.55 seconds @ 178 MPH ridden by Doc's daughter Kersten.
A pair of Chrysler Sno-Runners
View of the center isle of the museum.
Some scooters, the one on the right with a black seat is a Harley-Davidson Topper, Harley's only scooter model. 2-storke engine with a CVT.
1901 E.R. Thomas, one of the first American made motorcycles.
Harley-Davidson X-90 Shortster
1913 Train made in France, water cooled! 1912 Yale
Doc's Harley-Davidson is located half an hour North West of Green Bay, Wisconsin. On site is a Harley-Davidson dealership, a Harley-Davidson Rider Academy, a wild assortment of custom sculpture creations, a car and cycle museum with much more than just cars and cycles, a BBQ restaurant, the "Timeline" motorcycle, an antique mall, a zoo, a lawnmower, UTV, and Argo dealership... and probably more that I'm forgetting
Hours: Open daily, museum is inside the dealership, see hours listed at the bottom of https://docshd.com/contact-us
Address: Doc's Harley-Davidson of Shawano County W2709 State Highway 29 Bonduel, WI 54107
Admission: Free
There are probably interviews with Doc out there, but he was nice enough to take the time to share his story and give a full tour of the shop and museum so I figure I'll relay some of that account here. The story of the shop is that Steve "Doc" Hopkins took the nickname Doc from his father's profession and started "Doc's H.D. Repair" April 1st, 1979 with a garage rented at $75/mo. Before he officially opened he had already done a repair for $75 so he knew he'd be in business for at least a month. He took on a lot of engine and transmission work from a nearby dealership. He expressed interest in buying the dealership, and ended up working out a deal to buy it as the owner was worried Harley-Davidson was about to go under. In 1981 senior execs (including Willie G. Davidson) at Harley-Davidson bought the company back from AMF and avoided liquidation. "The Eagle Soars Alone!"
Harley allocated new motorcycles to dealerships based on population for the location that the dealership was in. This worked out to only 7 new motorcycles per year for Doc's dealership because Shawano County is very rural, much of it being a US Indian Reservation, the Menominee Reservation. Doc made use of a loophole in that Harley-Davidson would let dealerships order anything as parts, cue Johnny Cash's One Piece at a Time. This started a custom motorcycle program where rather than ordering a new Harley-Davidson, having the dealership receive it, then paying for the labor and duplicate parts to customize it, Doc's HD would just walk through every component with a customer asking what options they wanted, chrome or painted, and then they'd order those parts and assemble a custom motorcycle for the customer. The custom motorcycle program was a big success. Doc is "retired" now, spending more time on hobby projects and competing in the Motorcycle Cannonball events. His daughter (who races nitro Harleys) and her husband manage the dealership, his son is a Master Technician in the service department.
1921 Indian Powerplus
The "Timeline Motorcycle" inside the Timeline Saloon BBQ restaurant. The motorcycle seats 10 and has 7 different models of Harley-Davidson air-cooled engines arranged chronologically. What's most impressive about this creation is that it runs and has been ridden!
Successor to the Excelsior Welbike, Corgis were small folding motorcycles built to be dropped from planes for use by airborne divisions. In the USA they were branded as the Indian Papoose and look great considering their proportions.
Nitro Harley Pro Dragsters. The one on the left with flames, not captured well in this photo, has done the quarter mile in 7.55 seconds @ 178 MPH ridden by Doc's daughter Kersten.
A pair of Chrysler Sno-Runners
View of the center isle of the museum.
Some scooters, the one on the right with a black seat is a Harley-Davidson Topper, Harley's only scooter model. 2-storke engine with a CVT.
1901 E.R. Thomas, one of the first American made motorcycles.
Harley-Davidson X-90 Shortster
1913 Train made in France, water cooled! 1912 Yale
