Beschreibung:

The Ace Motor Corporation of Philadelphia manufactured sporting four cylinder motorcycles beginning in 1920, following William Henderson’s defection from Ignaz Schwinn’s empire which owned the Henderson motorcycle. Arthur Lemon was brought into the company in 1923 following the untimely death of Henderson while he was testing the new Sporting Solo. Ace wanted to build the fastest motorcycle in the world and directed Lemon to produce the bike. The small company was the first motorcycle manufacturer in the country to possess a brake dynamometer to test engines. The result was a series of five experimental four cylinder engines which were highly tuned. Ace had thrown down the gauntlet to the other motorcycle manufacturers with a wager of $50,000 that no one could beat their machine. There were no challengers. Charles “Red” Wolverton left the employ of Excelsior-Henderson to became the chief test rider at Ace. He used to take to the streets of Philadelphia in a street Ace secretly wearing one of the experimental motors, taking on all riders who thought they could outrun the Ace. July 4th of 1923, Wolverton and “TNT” Terpenning decimated the competition at the Rochester, New York hillclimbs. So confident was Lemon on the performance of his motorcycles that he had them recrated after only the first run up the hill. On a cold November 19th morning of that year, Red Wolverton entered the history books of motorcycling. On a closed section of the newly constructed Roosevelt Boulevard in northeast Philadelphia, not far from the Ace plant, Red took the Ace EXP 4 to a new record of 129.61mph. The glory was not enough to save the company and it closed the following year only to briefly reappear in central Pennsylvania and lastly in Detriot, Michigan. The assets of the company were acquired by Indian in late 1927, thus beginning the reign of the Indian Four. The racing Ace had one final fling in 1927 when the son of Indian’s sales manager ran an east coast hillclimb on the potent experimental EXP4 only to break the special magnesium crankcases, rendering the motor useless. It wasn’t until the cleanout of the Indian factory attic in the 1950’s that the forgotten relic of the experimental Ace was saved by AMCA founder Henry Wing. The chassis was long gone but the broken motor was given new life in an Indian Four crankcase. Another 30 years passed before Dr. John Patt, past president of the AMCA took on the project of replicating the famous Ace racer as the 60th anniversary of the record run was not far off. A frame was fabricated in his shop as were a set of replica Merkel forks. The special four inch wide gas tank and handlebars were also fabricated as related by Red Wolverton and J. Charles Cole, who was also involved in the original experiment Ace program. A stock 1922 motor was fitted to the chassis with a special made exhaust replicating the speedster’s original and one of the experimental intake manifolds found in Cole’s collection of parts. The original Ace EXP4 engine as owned by Henry Wing came into Doc Patt’s possession and was transferred to the replica chassis once the motor had been inspected. This stunning motorcycle, even though largely a replica, still possesses most of the original’s heart. As the magnesium engine cases could not be salvaged and Indian cases were substituted in the 1950’s, the replica racer’s engine also has an Indian transmission. However, everything else in the motor is authentic. The EXP 4 engine used specially cast cylinders and an oversized aluminum intake manifold. The Schebler carburetor was a special aluminum piece made under the direction of past racing star Maldwyn Jones. Even the timing cover was a special aluminum piece to save every ounce of weight. Ignition was provided by a special Scintilla magneto, altered to not be affected by the higher engine speeds of the experimental Ace. Horsepower was improved from a stock 22hp to 45hp with the experimental EXP 4. Red Wolverton personally inspected this