Original bikes and original owners

It was a day for original bikes and original owners at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum bike show Saturday, with two bikes taking top honors that were only owned by one owner their entire lives.

The American Best of Show winner was a 1950 Dynacycle, one of perhaps a dozen remaining in the U.S.

Essentially a bicycle with a motor bolted into the bottom bracket, the immaculately restored Dynacycle was the lifelong project of Tennessee's Don Dungan (top).

Bought as a graduation gift for by his parents in 1952 from a St. Louis department store for $242, the Dynacycle was ridden hard, almost sold, and lived in pieces in boxes for decades, until Dungan finally was able to locate the parts to complete the restoration only a few weeks before Vintage Motorcycle Days.

"At one point, my parents had sold it for $35, but the guy who bought it couldn't get it started and brought it back to get his money back," Dungan says. "After that I took it apart, put in boxes in my Volkswagen and hauled it to my house."

The Grand Marshal's Choice award went to a 1954 Harley-Davidson 165cc two-stroke chosen by Jay Springsteen because it's the same model as one the three-time Grand National Champion saw bolted to a sign at Cummings H-D in Flint for years.

Owner Doug Snyder, restored the bike recently as a nod to his own past. "I've had it since I was 13 years old," he says. "It's been overseas with me in the military, been in the garage, been in boxes on shelves, and it's always been pretty much there. It was just a matter of putting it back together."

Complete results of both Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum bike shows: