From 1920 through 1924, Ace motorcycles were built in a ... - WebRing

Joe Stephan – Ace Mechanic Copyright © 2000 by Joe Stephan
Uncle Karl
“Were you working for Ace when that picture was taken? Doug was again referring to the
motorcycle rally and picnic picture.
“That’s an interesting story how I got into this motorcycle business.” Joe began again to
explain how he came to work for the Ace Motor Corporation in their factory. “Well, I was in
motorcycling before, because my uncle was a board track driver. He used to race every
Saturday night at the Point Breeze. Challenged anybody! He had the long Henderson with the
footrests up front.”
“The 1912 model.” Doug stated emphatically.
“Yes.” Joe was quick to respond. “And he was racing with that. We were always wondering
how he could beat everybody. I really was the one to found out how he did it. He was a
machinist and he made his own sprockets. Because the Henderson came out with only one
sprocket, he could build up a higher sprocket and really get a lot of speed out of it.”
Tracking the XP-4
At this point, my grandfather turned his attention to Doc’s XP-4. “Now listen here, I’m sort of
surprised! How did you get that motor? Plass had it, didn’t he?”
“Okay.” Doc began tentatively. “Doug, this is going to be on tape? I guess it’s all right. Oh
gee, now let’s start. The records were set and the shop foreman, I think, got hold of this.” He
was, of course referring to the original XP-4 engine, now resting in the replica racer that Doc
had put together.
“The shop foreman?” Asked Joe, concentrating on Doc’s account of how the engine had been
preserved.
“They said he got hold of XP-4. Somebody got it. Who got it?” Doc asked, turning to Doug
for his input.
“Plass took it away.” Doug stated matter-of-factly. “And Red accuses him of stealing it.”
Whatever the circumstances, it is still unclear as to the fate of the rest of the motorcycle.
“Well, Plass was the general manager over there.” Joe said this not having heard the previous
exchange. He was hung up on Doc’s mentioning that the shop foreman took when he knew
for certain that the general manager, C. W. Plass, was in fact the person who obtained the
engine.
“Plass got it. The general manager got it.” Doc said, finally agreeing with Joe and Doug as to
Plass’ true function at Ace. He then continued with his account as to how he acquired the
engine in the end. “Anyway Ace, as you know, was reorganized and reorganized. They went
to Blossburg and they went broke. Then they went to Michigan Motors and they went broke.
And Indian brought the remains and, evidently, Indian got this engine.
“The motorcycle by this time was gone but they saved the engine of XP-3 and XP-4 and they
ended up in the loft of the Indian factory. And Henry Wing, Sr., from Massachusetts, got
these engines out of the Indian factory somehow when Indian was in the process of
reorganizing and going broke, after World War II. Henry Wing from Greenfield,
Massachusetts. Everybody knew he had them but he didn’t want to get rid of them. Nothing
like that.
“But eventually, he died and then his son died. And the family—they meant nothing to
them—so they just decided to convert them into money and offered them for sale. They
offered them to Steve McQueen. He had Red Wolverton verify that they were the engines and
he paid Red Wolverton’s expenses for a trip to California and all this and that. But the price
was exorbitant. Ah, the Wing’s, at that time, for this engine in a street frame, and the XP-3
engine wanted… Wasn’t it thirty thousand dollars Doug?”
“At one time, yes.” Doug replied evenly.
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