Kersting'

Northwest Indiana is farm country. The land is flat and fertile and fields of crops stretch to the horizon in every direction. It seems incongruous to find Kersting's World of Motorcycles in the middle of this bucolic rural setting. This impressive compound of buildings is located 4 miles south of North Judson, my original home town. It not only houses a thriving Harley-Davidson, Yamaha and Kawasaki dealership but it is also home to an excellent vintage motorcycle museum. Jim Kersting first opened his Harley-Davidson dealership in 1962 on this spot with a solitary cement block building. To hedge his bets that the enterprise might not prosper he also sold gasoline and installed a car lift in one of the bays just in case he had to revert to automotive repair to make ends meet. The business did succeed and today it employs the entire Kersting family along with a cadre of mechanics and sales personnel. The Harley showroom utilizes some of the original building and I am told that the the present parts counter was built over the old car lift. I worked as a mechanic in the original shop for 4 summers while I went to college. Those were some of my best memories.

Jim's life-long passion has been collecting antique motorcycles and memorabilia. It started with many odd trade-ins. I remember when Jim took a very clean Vincent Rapide in trade. We got it running and sold it for $350. In those days antique motorcycles were not the craze as they are today. But soon Jim started saving these oddities just because he loved the looks of them. He never dreamed that someday they might be valuable. Over the years his personal collection grew to well over 100 motorcycles. About 30 years ago Jim gave me the "vintage bug" and it has been my passion ever since. For many years many of Jim's motorcycles were displayed in a mezzanine above the showroom but eventually the collection outgrew this cramped space. In 2003 Jim built a new 10,000 square foot building to house his collection. In the center of the museum is a half-size replica of his original cement block shop which I remember well. In the picture below my wife Yukiko is overwhelmed by shear size of the collection (~150 bikes) . It makes my collection of a dozen or so old bikes seem insignificant. Below are pictures I took over the years from several visits to the museum.

Not surprisingly the collection includes many Harley-Davidsons. In the picture below you can see (from left to right) a 1937 knuckle head "61" with a unique roll-up windshield, a 1935 Flathead "74" and a 1910 Silent Grey Fellow leather belt-drive single (far left). The Grey Fellow is completely original and the engine has never been opened. I was invited to try cranking the Grey Fellow. It has bicycle-style peddles and when I started pumping the motor instantly sprung to life. Here is an earlier picture of Jim Kersting next to the 1910 Harley.

There are some rare European bikes as well. These include among the many English models is a two-pipe Ariel square four, a Douglas boxer twin, a Sunbeam S7, a Vincent Rapide and a Norton Manx. From the continent there are several BMWs including a rare 1934 R2. There is an equally rare 250cc Moto Guzzi Airone horizontal single, and a Danish Nimbus 750cc 4 cylinder. Of course Jim has a Brough Superior (the collector's holy grail). The 1934 175cc Jawa is as cute as they come. The Panther "sloper" is a mystery. The badges say England but the Motorcycle Encyclopedia says it is German. In the picture my German friend Thomas Krieg is inside the original shop replica trying to find any traces of Germany on the Panther (it was made in England).

Some mostly Italian bikes above. From the right a Moto Guzzi Ambasador, and 250cc open-flywheel Airone.

European Bikes: NSU, Panther, and some BMWs

Some nice scooters. The Cezeta scooter from Czechoslovakia in the foreground sports one of the funkiest body styles you will ever see. I rode an Allstate scooter just like that red one when I was in High School.

Interesting small bikes above. The left-front is a Sears 105 made by Gilera and sold by Sears in the 1950s. Japanese bikes are on the right.

Here is something you don't see everyday. A 16 cylinder Lincoln Zephyr car engine is crammed into this custom frame. The saddle bags house the radiators. Note the air inlet on the left bag. Are these bars wide enough for you?

In 2015 Jim added a room to display his collection of cars. The restored MG is an eye-popper. One of 3 Rolls Royces can be seen at the back. He also has 2 Excalibur's back there.

One of the more interesting exhibits is Jim's Japanese copies. The makers of the little 250 cc Lilac clearly had the German Victoria Bergmeister in mind (click here to see a Bergmeister). An even more faithful reproduction is the Marusho BMW R-bike look alike. The engine is almost a carbon copy of a BMW R50/2 (click here to see my BMW). The chassis is clearly Japanese but the wheels are again pure BMW. Another Japanese company Meguro made what looks to be a copy of the BSA pre-unit 650 vertical twin motor back in the 50's. Kawasaki acquired Meguro in the 1963 and imported these into the US as the Kawasaki W1. Actually, the innards of the W1 have little resemblance to the BSA as the Kawasaki has roller bearing big ends and ball bearing mains where the BSA had plain bushings. (click here to see the BSA).

Click here to go to Kersting's World of Motorcycles Museum's home page.

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