Growing up he taught me the difference between making things clean or gaudy-like not putting too many decals on my model cars. Everything he had from hot rods to motorcycles was cool. I always looked up to him not just because he’s 12 years older than I am but because he was just cool. My brother, Harry, was and still is my hero. He could figure things out and had great problem-solving skills, and he could build just about anything he wanted. His talents were exceptional, especially when it came to fabrication. He had a great disposition of life and a great sense of humor. HB: What were John and your brother like?īH: John was a very likable guy. We ambushed Holland long enough to pump him for a look into chopper history. Bill now makes both the Harman girder front ends as well as full-on custom motorcycles 3 miles away from John’s original garage. His spirit continues on through his business partner, Bill Holland, who opened Executive Choppers in 2001. John Harman is no longer with us, having passed away in the 1980s. Back then the performance side of the shop was called Grand Prix racing. In ’76, Harman started a style they called “Street Diggers.” They were basically chopperized drag bikes. John also had engine work going, including heads, flywheels, and cylinders. While John was dreaming up the next big thing, Harry Holland did the PR work while Bill fabricated the girder front ends. Unlike most home garage operations of the day, Harman had everything from a heli-arc welder to a flame cutter.
Although Harman’s shop was in a home garage in Roseville, California, it wasn’t a small operation. Frames, motor work, and a lot more came out of John’s in-home garage operation, including ground-up chops in the long, popular Northern California style that made its cultural mark back then. That’s just the tip of a much larger iceberg, though. The internally sprung girder was indeed a rolling moniker for John and his two partners, Harry and Bill Holland. His shop, known as H&H or Grand Prix Racing back in the ’70s, wasn’t just a factory cranking out long front ends for choppers. Unlike the others, though, Harman’s was real. Darth Vader had the force choke, Lone Ranger had his silver bullets, and John Harman had his famous internally sprung girder front ends. Words: Mark Masker, Photos: Courtesy of Executive Choppers and the Hot Bike/Street Chopper archives