[gumbyredd]

Wonder how many here knew who he was? He owned Dales Wheels Through Time in Maggie Valley North Carolina..He had several businesses before he bought Dales Harley Davidsonin in Mt. Vernon Illinois at age 25, becoming the youngest dealership owner, with a loan from his father. He did very well there. Says he took a bear cub in as a deposit on a Harley once. Had the run of the place till it outgrew it's welcome. His son Matt worked alongside him. He had 350 plus antique motorcycles. All ran it sounds like. In 1997 He rode a 1917 Hendereson coast to coast. All this at the Mt Vernon Harley Davidson dealership.He sold the dealership in 2000, and toured country looking for perfect location for his motorcycle museeum, before settling on Maggie Valley, N.C, just off Blue Ridge Parkway. He passed away February third of this year at age 68. I looked up his obituary, and found it to be very interesting reading. Sounds like a place to put on my bucket list of places to visit.
gumbyredd

 

[DaveO430]

Been there & talked to him. It is an interesting place to visit.

 

[Bike...and Dennis]

R.I.P.
Wish I'd had a chance to visit that museum. I had seen write ups on it in the moto mags.

 

[dusterdude]

It is a very cool museum

Sent from my LM-X420 using Tapatalk

 

[DBohrer]

Wonder how many here knew who he was? He owned Dales Wheels Through Time in Maggie Valley North Carolina..He had several businesses before he bought Dales Harley Davidsonin in Mt. Vernon Illinois at age 25, becoming the youngest dealership owner, with a loan from his father. He did very well there. Says he took a bear cub in as a deposit on a Harley once. Had the run of the place till it outgrew it's welcome. His son Matt worked alongside him. He had 350 plus antique motorcycles. All ran it sounds like. In 1997 He rode a 1917 Hendereson coast to coast. All this at the Mt Vernon Harley Davidson dealership.He sold the dealership in 2000, and toured country looking for perfect location for his motorcycle museeum, before settling on Maggie Valley, N.C, just off Blue Ridge Parkway. He passed away February third of this year at age 68. I looked up his obituary, and found it to be very interesting reading. Sounds like a place to put on my bucket list of places to visit.
gumbyredd

I met Dale in April 1997 at his Harley dealership. He gave us a tour of the Museum while there. It really wasn't advertised at that time or open to the general public.

Visited his Museum in Maggie Valley years later. He remember my visit in 1997...!

 

[harveysmedlap]

First time I was there a large group of bikes came in and the next thing you heard was his son saying, Dad fire the Crocker up. Everyone moved out of the aisle way and here came Dale around the the corner laying rubber for probably 75 feet with bikes worth thousands of dollars on either side, then had to stop before running out of room on the other side. Great museum. Sad to hear of his passing.

 

[DBohrer]

Yeah, It is the Museum that "Runs"...!

Anyone else here who met him back in Mount Vernon, IL....???

 

[Bellboy40]

My son and I stopped at his museum in Maggie Valley about 5 years ago. He was a super nice guy. He came over where we were looking at one of his machines and started talking to us like we were old friends. Must have stayed there with us for about a half hour or so. I saw him get on several of the bikes on display there, start them up and ride around with them. There wasn't anything in that building that he wouldn't ride. Nothing was hands off like most museums. He even went over where I was looking at one of his cars that had a V12 engine in it and asked me if I wanted to hear it run. Of course I did! He got in and started it up for me. Really surprised me that he offered to do that without being asked.

 

[decolvin]

I met Dale at the museum about 5 years ago I was visiting with a group of members of the HTTA (Honda Tranverse Twins Association ....read CX/GL 500/650). He had me bring my bike up to the museum entrance and posed for a photo of the bike and our group. He was a great guy.

 

[Bike...and Dennis]

I met Dale at the museum about 5 years ago I was visiting with a group of members of the HTTA (Honda Tranverse Twins Association ....read CX/GL 500/650). He had me bring my bike up to the museum entrance and posed for a photo of the bike and our group. He was a great guy.

So, post the pic so we can see it.