Church of Choppers Blog

This gem of a photo and story submitted by Matt from DicE:







So I was in this Mexican bar last night which had a country band playing, funnily enough, and I met this amazing geezer. His real name is Marvin Lee but everyone knows him buy his nickname, Porky Johnson, which has stuck most of his life. He's now 85.







This is him on his Ariel Square Four in 1949. He has lived in North Hollywood all his life and was a member of a motorcycle club in that area back in the day called ( now I could have this wrong wrong 'cos the music was loud and I could hardly hear him) the So Cal MC. It boasted many Hollywood actors as members, such as Clark Gable, Lee Marvin etc., etc. Porky and Lee got on very well 'cos of the name similarities of course.

The MC used to race bikes on a dirt track at a big ranch just off San Fernando Blvd in Burbank back when there were no houses out there. Porky owned this Square Four and a knuckle all held together with bailing wire and a prayer. Money was tight just after the war, apart from the actors. He has ridden bikes all his life and his machine of choice in the present day is a Velocette Venom off road scrambler. Totally illegal for the road, no lights, license plate, etc., but he still rides it around Burbank and North Hollywood.







The man has a real spark and a twinkle in his eye that would put most 20 year olds to shame. He is about to leave for a car road trip with his girlfriend around the U.S., one of his life long dreams. He doesn't know quite where he's gonna go and when he will be back but I'm going round his house when he returns. Porky has a load of film of his club racing in the dirt that he wants me to see and all sorts of mementos too. What a bloody legend.