Probably Could Have Skipped the Helmet: Ohio Man Takes ’67 Electra Glide to His Grave
Mechanicsburg, Ohio resident Bill Standley loved his ’67 Electra Glide so much he literally wanted to be buried on it. The shot above is a picture of his “coffin,” which was constructed by his sons and sat in his garage for the last few years. Apparently, Standley was fond of showing off his custom casket to visitors, which I’m sure wasn’t uncomfortable for any of his house guests.
A small team of morticians crafted a brace and secured his hands to the bars of the bike before the giant diorama passed through town on its way to his final resting place in a local cemetery. As you can imagine, there were some pretty funny reactions from folks on the Forum:
“I hope they put Stabil in the tank.” —Bagger_Vance
“What if you go up there and it turns out they give you a Honda? Or a Victory? I start to see the man’s concern here, he had a point!” —ghira75
“They have helmet laws in heaven?” —JaySwear
As you can probably imagine of a forum packed with Harley enthusiasts, not everyone thought it was a great idea to take a functioning bike and and sentence it to rust away in the earth:
“Two things a dead man don’t need, Tears and a Harley.” —smitty901
“Selfish old bastard. He could have passed it on to someone else to enjoy.” —fatboy slim
“Somebody will dig him up within a couple a days,steal the scoot,and dump his dead ass back in the hole. Exactly WHERE is it he’s being buried?” —Twistnride
Personally, I don’t like the idea of the bike going into the ground. My Dad is a pilot, and when I was growing up I spent a lot of time in his ’66 Piper Cherokee. He loved that plane, but I remember him saying that you never really own something like vintage iron, you just take care of it for the next generation. I appreciate that sentiment, but you know what they say about opinions.
Head to the Forum to see what members are saying about this wild send off! >>
