AEE Choppers web site!!!

At long last we are getting our web site put together. We only have a few pages so far. It will be expanding rapidly in a short time. Check it out:

www.aeechoppers.com

BIG 4

This is our Honda 750. Tom didn't want to get in to Japanese or British bikes too much but Dave Brackett saw to it we did. He designed and built this frame. Square glide front end and our fiberglass Sporty tank, tall king and queen seat but most importantly was the pipes which were AEE. Those things sounded wicked plus hell there was 4 of them. Very nice bike, very reliable BUT it had the ugliest damn paint job on it. Molly did it for us but I'm not sure where the design came from. I mean the paint was the usual flawless Molly work but man was it ugly. However, if you go back to 1972 and look at paint on some of the bikes maybe it isn't all that ugly. Just not up to AEE standards I didn't think.

Very early Big Twin pictures

Ran across these pictures of Dave Brackett and Jim Clark (and a third guy I can't identify) working over Big Twin very early in it's life. It just boggles the mind that Dave built this in 32 days! Look at the frame and bodywork involved alone. For god's sake 2 Sporty engines, auto trans and 45 Servicar rear end. Its just flat amazing. Then throw it all has to come apart for chrome and paint and then it wins the Oakland Roadster show!

The next generation

This is a shot of my son Devin helping me jerk an Ironhead motor out of a hardtailed frame.....engine being used for an upcoming project. bought it as a half assed roller just for the engine. Look close and you will see a tiny little sliver of yellow on Devin's shirt....it's an AEE shirt of course!

Sissy bar on Really (1968 Honda 350)

This is a closeup of the sissy bar on Really. The tips were Brass I believe. The wheels on the bike were Parkerized a goldish color to match the paint and brass pieces. This is the very first chopper Dave Brackett built for AEE after he went to work there.

Tom and Deanna

Here is a picture of Tom McMullen and his last wife Deanna.  Picture taken at a car show somewhere.

AEE mono girder

Here is an AEE mono girder on bike that is in Japan. You won' t see many of these.Most girders have two legs but ours was only one and square tube too.

Cover

One of my favorite catalog covers.....left to right...The Shovelhead (purple bike) , the Kit Bike Sportster (yellow bike), the Honda 750 (white bike) , The Supersport (red bike).

Rose McMullen on the left, then Pam, Big Vicki (we had a little one too) and can't remember the last one....all worked in the office. And of course Tom McMullen leaning on the Continental Mark.

AEE mini drum brake

this is our mini-drum. Many others out there but only one similar to this one. Hallcraft made one that was similar. You can tell the difference as on the small spool side of ours each spoke has its own hole. On theirs its a slotted affair to take two spokes, so instead of 36 holes it has 18 slots.. Neither one would stop your chopper. They were produced solely with the idea of meeting the letter of the law which said after, I believe 1970, you had to have a front brake. this one is in very good condition but is being stripped and sent to get fresh chrome. Shoes will be relined with modern brake lining materials and new Barnett cable will be made for it.

A nice AEE sissy bar

This is a  later sissy bar that AEE produced. Our original selction was fairly small but grew a lot over the years. this bar is untouched from 40 years ago and note how good the chrome still is.

Early bars did not have the AEE logo stamped in, indeed they had no markings. I do know I was always amazed at the depth of the chrome we got from Orange county Chrome. Quite often I inspected parts as they returned from chrome and there was very little that ever got sent back. The inspection process was performed with each piece after we removed them from the newspaper they came back to us in (hey it was 1970-71, newspaper was the packing material of choice). we would visual and run our hands over the item then in some cases pack them in plastic (each seat was in plastic as an example) then put on the shelf. sissy bars and handlebars were built and shipped in such quantities that they had individual racks for each bar type. It meant for a pretty extensive inventory when you consider most of the handlebars came in 7/8" and 1" and sissy bars for both rigid and swing arm models!

Dave's new sidehack!

Dave Brackett our designer and engineer at AEE has taken his VW drag bike and adapted a sidehack to it for street use. Typical for Dave its forward thinking and well made. Check out his springer, its a piece of art and he builds it all himself. Notice also that the VW engine is in the front. think about that for a minute....takes some real work and ingenuity to make that work. Oh, and the faux western town in the shot he built in on his property too!

Be different!

USS Angler

Tom was in the Navy and this is the sub he was on. It is an older fleet boat that saw service in WW2, diesel powered. He supposedly had a nickname of "Tweets" as one of his job was sounding the boatswain's call or pipe on the loudspeaker system.

tom's 32 before it was his!

These pictures were taken in 1956, believe a guy named Don Hudson owned the car at that time. Work was being done on the car at a shop.

A seat I have

This is a 40 year old AEE seat I came across (and bought) and it's perfect!!! Check it out, it even has the part number sticker attached to it. This shows you how good the seats really were. I also found a real AEE king and queen seat (lots of knock offs out there) but its in much worse condition and I will probably have to get it recovered.

Tom's 32 is now a model from Danbury Mint!

Toms' 32 is now available as a model! This is an actual photo of the model, its perfect!

The Danbury Mint is proud to introduce the Limited Edition McMullen Roadster, a perfect 1:24 scale replication of Tom McMullen's roadster exactly as it appeared on the cover of Hot Rod.  This brand new replica captures every detail of the stunning '32 Highboy.  Production of this amazing model will take place this year only and this one-of-a-kind tribute to a truly historic hot rod will be gone before you know it!

Tom's house

If you follow the link you can find an ad about the house that Tom had just finished before he died. He and his wife never got to live in it. It is in Buena Vista Colorado. Tom loved old mines and often went out to them in the California desert so he built this house to be like an old mine.
http://tomcatranch.com/

Tom's 32 in 1961

This is Tom's famous 32 in 1961 at Pomona. It is a metalflake green that didn't work out so well.

Kit bike engine

This is a picture of the AEE Sportster kit bike engine. When this bike was originally assembled in the prototype department it had this engine in it without the Joe Hunt mag and Weber carb. As the kit bike was coming together a "performance division" was established at AEE. to that end we put these two items on this build. Later on one of the very first Magnuson superchargers showed up on it. It became probably our best "mule" for parts. Over the couple of years it had many different parts and accesories designed for it and installed on it. It ended up in multiple stories and ad's in Street Chopper. To see it in the original form, no paint or chrome, check out the June 1971 issue Street Chopper. Also note that AEE pioneered fully chroming engines with the Mindbender knucklehead. At that time common thought was the engine would overheat if plated.

Pink Floyd

Dave Brackett our esteemed engineer and designer at AEE recently forwarded me this picture of one of four choppers built for Pink Floyd for the 1974 European tour. I am just getting infoon them. The current owner of this bike is a guy named Laurent who is French and currently living in Germany.This is the only picture I have so far but for sure the sissy bar, springer, risers and handlebar are AEE....perhaps the front brake and seat too! As I get more information I'll update.