Custom-made motorcycle revs up owner's engine

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Making deals on high-dollar wheels is nothing new for Michael B. Willhoit, owner of Willhoit Enterprises in Spring-field, but his latest acquisition is something different.|ret||ret||tab|

Willhoit, whose company does a na-tionwide business in sports cars, including Ferraris, Porsches and Mercedes, has realized a personal dream. |ret||ret||tab|

That dream a $100,000 custom-built motorcycle was unveiled April 13 at the Easyriders national event in Kansas City, where it was named Editor's Choice.|ret||ret||tab|

But until April 12, Willhoit himself had never seen the motorcycle in person. The design, crafting and construction of the bike a 16-month process were handled exclusively via telephone and Internet.|ret||ret||tab|

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Beginning of a dream|ret||ret||tab|

"I saw a drawing about five years ago in a magazine, and I thought, Man, that is a cool bike,'" Willhoit said. He made a copy of the drawing, put it on his desk and, in his spare time, started looking for people to build it for him. |ret||ret||tab|

"While I was looking for these people to build it, getting some ideas, a guy called me from California named Tom Binns on a car that I had for sale an 89 Porsche Speedster and he said, I've got a high-dollar motorcycle I'd like to trade on that, that I built,'" Willhoit said. |ret||ret||tab|

"I said Well, I'd love to, but I need a hobby. I'm bored to death. I don't want to buy a motorcycle, I want to build one.' So the long and the short of it is we made a deal; I sold him the Porsche and he signed a contract that he had one year to build me a bike."|ret||ret||tab|

Willhoit knew what he wanted. He overnighted the drawing to Binns, and from there, communication was exclusively by phone and e-mail.|ret||ret||tab|

"The most unique part of it, I guess, is the fact that we did it all on the Internet. I never met the man, and I never saw the bike until (April 12) about 10:30 in the Denny's parking lot."|ret||ret||tab|

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The process|ret||ret||tab|

"I wanted to build something different. I didn't want to buy; I wanted something that was all mine. It's the only one like it in the world," Willhoit said.|ret||ret||tab|

The building of Willhoit's bike, known as The Death Dealer, involved about 15 different craftspeople from Binns in California to Florida airbrush artist Chris Cruz, who painted the fuel tank with the image inspired by the 1973 Frank Frazetta painting "Death Dealer." |ret||ret||tab|

"Your bike is supposed to be the outward appearance of what you think inside which you can see from that I'm in big trouble," Willhoit said with a laugh.|ret||ret||tab|

The motor was built by Patrick Racing. "It's a 120 cubic inch with just about 200 horsepower. Now how that compares is, a stock Harley is 88 cubic inches, 60 horsepower," Willhoit said. |ret||ret||tab|

The motor, he added, cost more than most Harleys and took eight months to build. |ret||ret||tab|

"All the other fabrication, from the pipes to the fenders, is all hand-made sheet metal, which is why it's very expensive," he said.|ret||ret||tab|

The handcrafting aspect meant a much bigger time investment: while the motor took eight months, the fuel tank and fenders took about nine months to complete.|ret||ret||tab|

The seat is handcrafted ostrich skin. |ret||ret||tab|

Binns and Willhoit communicated via e-mail, with photos and information flying back and forth over the Internet.|ret||ret||tab|

"The guy that built it for me said, I wouldn't have done that; I wouldn't have had the guts to send me all this money and tell me to build a bike; somebody I didn't know.' I said, well I could tell by talking to him on the phone that he was an honest guy. The secret to that is that when you asked him a question he always came right back; he didn't hem-haw around."|ret||ret||tab|

Willhoit also got a lot of input from his friends and his "main cohort," his sister Merry Maples. |ret||ret||tab|

"I didn't do it all. At least I was smart enough to have some good people to ask advice from."|ret||ret||tab|

Dream come true|ret||ret||tab|

Binns drove 30 hours nonstop from California to deliver the bike to Willhoit in time for the Easyriders show. |ret||ret||tab|

Easyriders has "two top awards, and they won't let you win both," Willhoit said. |ret||ret||tab|

"One's Best of Show and the other one is the Editor's Choice, and we won the Editor's Choice, first time out."|ret||ret||tab|

He has yet to take the bike out on the road.|ret||ret||tab|

"The first time I saw it I said, I can't ride this, it's a work of art,' and all my buddies say the same thing," Willhoit said. The bike is insured by Lloyd's of London.|ret||ret||tab|

The Death Dealer now sits in his Willhoit Enterprises showroom, where Willhoit can look at it all day.|ret||ret||tab|

"The more you look at it everything changes. You'll see something you didn't see before even a motorcycle guy like myself. But you've got to appreciate how someone takes his hand and a hammer and black paint shows every flaw and there's not a flaw on that bike. The craftsmanship is second to none."|ret||ret||tab|

Looking is enough for now.|ret||ret||tab|

"So far its just for show, but I don't know how long I can keep from straddling 120 cubic inches to see what it will do; but it gets dirty, you get rock chips, then you have to do it again. I may have to buy another bike to ride and just show this."|ret||ret||tab|

Now that Willhoit has realized his dream, the big question is, what will he do next time he gets bored?|ret||ret||tab|

"Work harder," he said, and laughed. "Actually I've got a little grandson now. I spend a lot of time with him; he's 20 months old." |ret||ret||tab|

Willhoit also bought a new home recently and stays busy keeping up with the landscaping.|ret||ret||tab|

And, of course, there's always his work at Willhoit Enterprises. |ret||ret||tab|

"Business is great. It slowed down a little bit since Sept. 11, but it's gained back up. We had the best December, January and February that I've ever had in 27 years of business. So, it's on its way back." [[In-content Ad]]