“The motorcycling world loves a barn find, an old, obscure machine wheeled out of the woodwork for the first time. And this is one of the biggest revelations of recent months. It’s a 1930 Henderson that was customized before WW2 by a fellow called O. Ray Courtney and fitted with streamliner bodywork.
One night in March, 1950, O. Ray Courtney worked until two a.m. And drove home discouraged. He was trying to design a better motorcycle. He wanted one with the seat forward, with better cooling, better springing and a more beautiful body. Discarded sketches littered the floor of his shop. That night in a dream he saw a steamlined beauty skim across a flowered field. Too excited to report for work the next day, he hastily put his dream on paper and he is riding that dream cycle now through the streets of Pontiac, Michigan
The art deco influence is obvious; legendary automotive designer Harley Earl could have drawn those curves.
It’s all the more unusual because the mechanicals are hidden: even at the height of the Art Deco movement, most motorcycles were a triumph of form over function, with exposed cooling fins, brake drums and suspension springs.
The bike is owned by collector Frank Westfall of Syracuse.
It caused a stir in June 2010 when it appeared at the Rhinebeck Grand National Meet, a motorcycle show held a couple of hours drive north of NYC.…”
https://www.sport-touring.net/forums/index.php/topic,59055.msg1358117.html
It looks pretty bat-mobile cool in that photo but in the side shots at the link it looks a bit like it has a metabolism problem or swollen glands. Wicked concept though. Someone should give it a modern day attempt.