® A Day in the Life: Highly Modified Dave

One of the first dealerships I worked for had an interesting history, being at one time Bud Ekin's old Triumph shop. Ekins was the technical expert for Steve McQueen's film, The Great Escape, and an all round Triumph expert. The shop later added Honda. Sherman Oaks Honda/Triumph had an interesting clientele and one of our more interesting customers was a fella the Service Manager called "Highly Modified Dave.". I first thought he got his name from the modified bikes he was said to prefer, but I learned differently when I met Highly Modified Dave after installing a Webcam in his brand new CB350. He came in to pick te bike up, with a girl clinging to him and friends in tow, pretty obviously going from one good time to another. We'd see him now and. then, buying his friends new motorcycles. Seems he had a lot of money he had been awarded when he lost most of one arm after climbing a utlity pole and being all but electrocuted. Thus his name, Highly Modified Dave. He rode that 350 by working the clutch with just the stump of his arm. A tough character, you could say. The story ends with hearing of him several months later, money gone, friends gone too. I have always remembered that, about the different kinds of "friends" and thought sadly, I wonder where he is now.

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