July 18, 2021 – West Bend, WI – In August 2008 a story ran in Around the Bend by Judy Steffes about a unique Harley-Davidson motorcycle on display in West Bend.
It was a 1913 9G Forecar which had been completely restored by owner Mike Schuster.
“The Harley, battleship gray in color, was willed to me in 1967 by my grandfather,” said Schuster about the pedal start motorcycle saved from the scrap drives of WWI by a motor starter shop in Milwaukee.
“My grandfather, J. Ally Schuster, acquired the motorcycle and never used it, but placed it in storage at the north end of the horse barn adjacent to his motor repair garage in Goldendale in the Village of Germantown,” said Schuster.
“When my grandfather realized he was dying in 1964, he lowered the motorcycle from the hayloft in the horse barn and when I got home from school I was handed a camera and told to take a picture of the cycle sitting in the front yard.”
Schuster spent the better part of 40 years restoring the motorcycle. Now, that rare motorcycle and Schuster’s story are part of a film.
“Walter: The Missing Link – Discovery of a Centennial Motorcycle”, a feature-length documentary that chronicles the life and times of the last-known Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Truck in existence. A remarkable motorcycle…affectionately known as Walter.
The producer of Walter is The Edge Ltd., an independent production company established in 1989 by James Cutting.
“The documentary tracks this unique service motorcycle from 1913, delivering on the streets of old Milwaukee, through 40 years of desolation stored in a horse barn, and then another 40 years of meticulous restoration by J Ally Schuster and his grandson Michael, eventually becoming an acknowledged motorcycle artifact over 100 years later. ”
Celebrate the history of Milwaukee with the Walter documentary premiere is September 2, 2021, at the Turner Hall Ballroom,1040 North Vel Phillips Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Click HERE for details and tickets as the film makes a stop in West Bend.
Cover photo and video courtesy Jim Cutting.