Marty Dickerson with his Series B in the early 1950s. (Click image to enlarge)

"Marty’s a racer, not a collector," says Harris. "Marty’s bike was a work in progress, and Marty finally perfected it, and it had to be suitable for road racing. He moved the front fender to the rear. Over the years, he’s had to change the wheels from 21s down to 18s so that he could get the right kind of rubber to pass inspection. And he’s had to make other changes to allow the bike to still be competitive. Marty told me, ‘I’ve had three wives, but I still have this one Vincent.’ That’s all he needed. It became a race bike one weekend. It became a drag bike during the week. It was his hobby, his livelihood, the source of his fame, his transportation. It did everything for Marty. It reflects Marty the man."

Rollie Free on Edgar's Bathing Suit Bike clocked at 150.313 mph. (Click image to enlarge)

The "Blue Bike," as Harris calls Dickerson’s racer, shares the gallery with an even more significant Vincent. California sportsman John Edgar’s 1948 Series B Black Lightning was one of only 32 built, and it went on to become the most famous motorcycle in the world. Edgar purchased the bike to go racing, and its rider, Rollie Free, is immortalized in an equally famous photograph taken that year at Bonneville. Free, after having torn his leathers during earlier runs, wears only a bathing suit, shower cap, and borrowed sneakers, lying down on the seatless contraption as it travels at more than 150 mph. He wrested the U.S. national motorcycle speed record from Harley-Davidson that day in 1948, and went on to eventually set the American Class A Speed Record at Bonneville in 1950 with a top speed of 156.58 mph. After Free’s accomplishments, the motorcycle was "borrowed" from Edgar by a subsequent rider and disappeared into obscurity until a contentious battle for the vehicle’s title brought the bike to light. Finally, in 1996, it found a home with Harris, who has made it the centerpiece of his collection.

Reg Dearden’s 1949 Series C Supercharged Black Lightning does not occupy the gallery, but sits quietly in the corner of the Harris family room. Not many domestic settings boast such rarefied rolling stock. Dearden was a British Norton dealer who envisioned a record-breaking Vincent to bring the motorcycle land speed record back to Britain. The motorcycle was returned to Stevenage in 1950 to have a supercharger and numerous special parts fitted and the frame lengthened by 4 inches. The project came to an abrupt halt in 1953 when Dearden’s rider, Les Graham, was killed in a race accident. Harris’ assiduous sleuthing led him to the bike’s owner, and it joined the collection in 1997.