One of a bunch of old motorcycle magazines I bought recently was the 1969 Fourth Annual Motorcycle Sport Book edited by Bob Greene, one of the top editors/writers ever in the biz. With a cover price of $2—$17 in 2023 dollars—the special edition magazine had a very interesting article with the headline, “Swap Chopper – Sportster & 74.”
What was odd about the article? Well, for starters, there was no byline for the piece. Okay, that’s not entirely unheard of in this type of compilation. However, in this special issue, every other feature article has a byline with the likes of Greene himself, Joe Scalzo, Don Prieto, Tony Murphy, Bill Brokaw, Dave Ekins, Phil Vincent (yes, that Phil Vincent!), and Cliff Boswell.
The article was positioned at the end of a section featuring several other choppers, none of which was given full-page coverage, though the builder/owners were all named. Although the Swap Chopper was given two full pages, the article never names the builder/owner.
Instead, it gives a very cryptic statement: “This outstanding individual effort by a cyclist from distant shores…”
Who would have a custom creation featured in a special issue from Petersen Publishing Company—one of the world’s largest motorsports publishing houses—and not even be mentioned by name?
The next intriguing fact is that the bike is not especially customized for a chopper. Instead, it is pictured and described as merely the bolt-up swap of Sportster forks for the Electra Glide originals, a fiberglass boattail rear end with a stepped saddle and bullet taillight that bears an uncanny resemblance to the S-Glide production item, footpegs instead of floorboards. Essentially, the Swap Chopper is a stripped-down, bag-free Electra Glide that strongly resembles the 1971 Harley-Davidson Super Glide two years before its debut.
The photos are also eyebrow-raising. The Swap Chopper was shot in a professional photography studio—not the kind of pictures an individual builder would likely have produced in the 1960s. All the other choppers in the Fourth Annual Motorcycle Sport Book were shot in natural light outdoors or in a workshop. Finally, no photo credit was given for the Swap Chopper images.
I recall hearing years ago that Harley-Davidson would sometimes allow the release of images of a prototype to select motorcycle magazines. Harley-Davidson allowed the photos to be published with the proviso that the bike not be revealed for it actually is, or the source of the images. Any reader reactions received about the story would be shared with The Motor Company.
Given the rather odd characteristics mentioned above, I can’t help but wonder if Swap Chopper is one of those cloak-and-dagger Harley-Davidson reader impression tests using an early prototype of the Super Glide. Or, could it be that this was a legitimate bolt-on custom by a strangely nameless individual builder that may have inspired the revolutionary 1971 Harley-Davidson Super Glide?
Dain Gingerelli, in an article about the Super Glide in Motorcycle Classics magazine, had the answer in 2018: “Today, Willie G. says that, following a special marketing survey conducted in early 1969, photos of the FX prototype appeared later that same year on the pages of Peterson Publishing’s Motorcycle Sport Quarterly, edited by the late Bob Greene. ‘We planted the photos of the bike in his [Greene’s] magazine to see if we could get some feedback from people,’ Willie G. recently explained.”
Apparently, the reactions were positive, and the Harley-Davidson Super Glide FX (Factory Experimental) joined the product line in 1971, with 4700 legendary examples produced.
