Brandon trades for a vintage Harley Shovelhead…

Brandon has gone through a couple Harley Davidson Sportsters in the past year.  Firs the one that he modified, then the one that he didn’t.  Turns out he was really looking for a more classic Harley, which came to him in the form of this vintage 1970 Harley Shovelhead, complete with custom chopper frame…

A Harley Shovelhead at MotoPreserve…

This is what Brandon will look like on the Harley Shovelhead…

Not being too up on Shovelhead info, I decided to dig a little deeper.  The Harley Shovelhead was a replacement, or more appropriately an offshoot, of the Harley Panhead that came before it.  Released in 1966, the term Shovelhead was coined based on the appearance of the rocker box covers.  In my opinion, I never seem to recognize the references Harley uses for their engines.  Harley employed the Shovelhead until the introduction of the Evolution engine in 1984.

Unlike the original Harley Shovelheads, with the generator at the bottom (called ‘slabside shovels’) this model was considered a “cone shovel” due to the alternator at the bottom of the engine.  The new engine produced 10% more power than the previous Panhead.

Some great info can be seen HERE: