The winner of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America's “Free Harley Give Away Contest” is 18 year old Ryan Mackey from Willoughby Ohio. Ryan was one of the 90, 18-to-25-year-olds who wrote an essay for the contest, sponsored by Bikernet.com and the AMCA, which ran for October 1st 2008 through August 15th 2009.
The prize for the contest is a 1942 Harley-Davidson WLA bobber in pieces, and two months shop time at Carl's Cycle Supply in Aberdeen, South Dakota. As soon as Ryan finishes building the bike and rides it, he will get the title for the bike and get to keep it.
The A.M.C.A. Foundation has also put up grant funds to help pay for all of Ryan's travel and living expenses while he works on the bike.
A team of over 30 judges composed of people who donated the parts gathered at this year's annual Super Swap Meet in Davenport, Iowa and narrowed the 90 essays down to the top three, then finally picked a winner.
Tim Yeates, one of the judges on the team described the process of choosing the winner, “All of the essays were outstanding. It was very difficult to choose just one. Ryan's essay stood out because he took the initiative to get involved with motorcycles on his own without any outside family influence. He loves working on bikes, and understands the importance of promoting the old motorcycle hobby, and the A.M.C.A.”
The judges spent nearly two hours choosing the winner for the contest, All of the entrants went the extra mile and did a great job. All of the people who entered the contest will receive a free 1-year membership to the AMCA, as well as a pass to The National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa, Iowa, Wheels Through Time Museum, in Maggie Valley, North Carolina and Vintage Spokes, in Rock Island, Illinois.
Ryan plans to work on the bike for a month on his Christmas break from Lakeland College, and resume work five months later in May when his freshman year of college is finished.
Ryan says, “I am still in shock that I won the contest. I don't think it will really settle in until I see the sign that says, 'Welcome to South Dakota.' It is a huge honor that you have picked me, and I want to thank everyone in the AMCA who has made this contest possible. I cannot wait to start working on the bike!”
The bikes assembly will be chronicled on the AMCA's Website, as well as in The Antique Motorcycle, and on Bikernet.com. Once the bike is completed it will be featured in American Iron magazine. Check out www.antiquemotorcycle.org, www.bikernet.com, and www.caimag.com for updates and details!
–Matt Olsen
Ryan's contest winning essay:
My name is Ryan Mackey and I am 18 years old. Motorcycles have been a huge part of my life. I first fell in love with vintage motorcycles watching my neighbor work on his Shovelhead. Every time my brother and I heard the bike start up, we would run outside to watch him wrench on it and ride it away. I spent many nights dreaming about riding a bike like that some day.
My parents were very against motorcycles of any kind, but after saving my hard earned money for years, realizing how much enthusiasm I had for motorcycles, my parents let me buy my first dirt bike when I was 11, not realizing what this would mean to me in the future.
I could not have been happier with this bike, and my life until a week before my 15th birthday, when my world got flipped upside down. I found out that my parents were getting divorced and my mom was moving out. This came as a huge surprise to both my brother and I. My family had always meant the world to me and to suddenly find out that we would never all be together again really shook me up.
To make things worse, my brother who is three years older than me, and my best friend, was moving away to college in only a few months. I was totally lost as to what to do. None of my friends could relate to my situation and were stuck in the typical high school mindset of not caring about anything. I felt like there was nothing I could do to get away from things. Being only 15, I could not just go out for a drive or go dirt biking by myself. I was in very bad shape and came very close to going down a very bad path.
Thankfully, my uncle realized this and knowing that I was into motorcycles and loved to work on my dirt bike, gave me a 1975 Harley-Davidson SX250 basket case that was in his barn. I spent every moment I had working on this bike. Not only did it keep my mind off of everything that was going on, it saved me from getting into a lot of trouble like many kids my age did.
After working on this bike for many months, I was still having a lot of trouble dealing with my parents being divorced and my brother being hundreds of miles away at school. Also around this time, my dog, which was my only steady companion through all of this, suddenly died. Realizing how much working on this bike helped me deal with everything initially, I decided to buy a 1974 Honda CB750 that was not running, just as a winter project. Even though this was not a bike I ever pictured riding, it was all I could afford.
Everyone I knew thought I was crazy spending money on something that I was not even allowed to ride. My parents refused to let me ride on the street, knowing how dangerous it can be. I told them that I did not care if I ever rode it; I just wanted to work on it, and build a café racer. This bike became my life over the winter. I spent more time with it in the garage than I did hanging out with friends. I spent many Friday nights in the shop installing a new part on I just received in the mail. Everyone doubted my ability to build what I had planned. I showed pictures of café racers to everyone to demonstrate what it would look like, when I was done, and they just rolled their eyes.
Much to everyone’s surprise, I rolled a very impressive looking café racer out of the garage in the spring. I had hundreds of hours into this bike and was so proud of it. I never once had any help building of the bike and loved every minute of it. My parents, realizing the amount of time I had in it, surprisingly let me get my motorcycle endorsement. To this day, I still have both of these bikes and work on or ride them daily.
Looking back now, three and half years after my world came crashing down, it is amazing what I was able to accomplish thanks to motorcycles. I was able to stay clean and out of trouble. I also have been able to become an Eagle Scout and a Firefighter for a local volunteer department. I sometimes wonder what would have happened to me if I did not have motorcycles as therapy.
Winning this contest would mean much more to me than just getting to own my dream bike. I would be thrilled to be able to work alongside professionals and would try to learn as much as possible while building it. My dream one day is to open a motorcycle shop and this would definitely help me move in that direction.
If I were to win the Harley, I would definitely keep it to one day pass it down to my son or daughter. Hopefully they would love motorcycles just as much as I do.
My goal after winning this contest would be to do everything I could to keep a similar contest going every year in hopes of getting more people my age into vintage motorcycles. I think this is a great, possibly life changing thing that you are doing for whoever is lucky enough to win.
