Tuesday, February 26, 2013

New Crocker Motorcycles from Australia

Those that follow the worldwide merry-go-round of classic motorcycle sales at auction will know that Bonhams sold three Crocker motorcycles last August at Quail Lodge. Seen by many as the finest pre-war American motorcycle it is rare to see a Crocker in the flesh let alone have three in the same auction.

All three of these machines ended up in the hands of one buyer and made their way over to Australia. The buyer was a gentleman by the name of Brendon Child from Sydney. The selling price of the Crockers can be easily accessed, suffice to say that Mr Child must be a man of considerable means. He already owned two of the 65 Crockers in existence and his successful truck and agricultural equipment leasing company allowed him to buy the three further ones.

This could be just the story of a slightly over exuberant collector, however the interesting bit is that Brendon Child owns the rights to the Crocker name is Australia and is going into limited production with replicas.

An original Crocker, one of the examples sold by Bonhams
in California and now residing in Australia.
There has been another attempt to resurrect Crocker from the States, an endeavour that has been ongoing for some twelve years and doesn't seem to yet have a bike to market. The Australian concern has not been going anything like so long and is very much publicity free and under the radar but claims to have four machines under construction and aims to produce twenty five a year for five years. The price? Upwards of $100,000. A fair wedge of cash in anyones' book but very reasonable compared to the other replica pre-war glamour bike projects such as the Brough and certainly not excessive given the effort required to build. Apparently the first four are already sold.

Let's hope it is a success and we can see more Crockers out and about on the road.

28 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  2. After much diligence by world renowned Walneck's Vintage Motorcycle Trader and their latest article on their findings regarding the Crocker Motorcycle Company and the continued production of the original big and small tank models, it was clearly determined that the Australian effort is nothing more then a rich Australian with 5 original Crocker's attempting to fool the public with a nonsensical story that has no proof, no photos, no tooling, no castings, fixtures ect. in other words extremely lost the claim with zero proof of manufacturing anything other than methane. Check out this months Walneck's magazine, November issue now online.

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  3. WRONG HERE. MR BRANDON CHILES IS PRODUCING THE CROCKER MOTORCYCLE DOWN UNDER. HE IS UNLIKE THIS AMERICAN MANUFACTURER WHO HAS SWINDLED PERSONS WITH HIS LIES AND DECEPTION. MR. SCHACT WHO TRIED TO REPRODUCE THE CROCKER MOTORCYCLES IN THIS COUNTRY HAS NOT. BRANDON ON THE OTHER HAND IS IN PRODUCTION OF A COMPLETE CROCKER IN HIS COUNTRY. GOOD LUCK.

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  4. MR. MICHAEL SCHACT IS A LIAR AND A THIEF. HE HAS TAKEN DEPOSITS FROM SEVERAL INDIVIDUALS AND HAS GIVEN THEM NOTHING... HE DOES HAVE A CROCKER MOTORCYCLE WHICH SAYS HE HAS PRODUCED BUT IT HAS AN ORIGIONAL OLD CROCKER ENGINE IN THE FRAME. DO NOT GIVE HIM ANY MONEY. ON THE OTHER HAND THE AUSSIE BRANDON CHILES IS IN ACTUAL PRODUCTION OF THE CROCKER MOTORCYCLE AND IS NOT EVEN ASKING FOR MONEY DOWN. BY THE WAY HE NOW OWNS TEN CROCKER MOTORCYCLES. MUST HAVE LOTS OF MONEY I GUESS.

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  5. BY THE WAY, MISTER JEFF GILBERT HAS GIVEN MR. SCHACT MONEY FOR A CROCKER MOTORCYCLE AND HAS GOTTEN NOTHING IN RETURN.

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  6. Is there anything new regarding the crocker repo story?



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    1. I haven't heard anything. There's a website: http://www.1346venice.com/ which is as much concerned with selling clothing. It kind of looks to me that the Aussie Crocker project is a hobby one that is still ticking away. To be honest that seems like the most sensible approach, you're only kidding yourself if you think you can make money through solely producing limited numbers of highly expensive replica motorcycles. There's a long history of big losses down that road...

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  7. The Crazy World of the Crocker

    America’s motorcycle culture is well known for its eccentric and bizarre characters, whether stunt men, actors, gangs, or just iconoclasts in general… and then there are the Crocker folks. Among the rarest and most valuable motorcycle marques in the world, the Crocker always invokes drama, skullduggery, and intrigue.

    The ‘new Crocker’ effort began about 1998, kicked off by Pete Banfield who owned the Crocker trade name at that time. But Pete’s idea to promote a new production replica ran into trouble when Michael Schacht and his erstwhile partner Karalash claimed to own the trademark instead, insisting that Pete had no right to it. To this day Pete says he still owns the Crocker Motorcycle Co trademark – but only insomuch as he can legally defend it.

    Once Pete was forced out, the new Crocker partnership consisted of Schacht, Karalash, and a technical advisor named ‘Rotten Rich’. Now depending upon who or whom one asks or chooses to believe, Schacht is said to have run off with the group’s castings and parts to appropriate the ‘new’ Crocker operation for himself, an allegation which Schacht firmly denies. A legal battle for assets ensued with Karalash plaintiff and Schacht as defendant –- inexplicably filed in Ontario, Canada! -- but the case was eventually dropped due to inactivity, so Schacht prevailed by default.

    [Note: We refer here to the owner of two exceedingly rare and valuable Crocker basket case motorcycles only as 'Bill Jones' to protect the name of the perhaps innocent!]

    About the time Schacht assumed full control of the Crocker name, Bill Jones provided two very valuable Crocker motorcycles for restoration to a dealer in Ventura known as The Shop, owned and operated by Dave Hansen. The basket cases needed parts, the logical assumption being that Schacht’s new Crocker replica shop would provide them. According to Jones, he fronted The Shop a large amount from his own personal savings toward their restoration and to Schacht. Hansen had other bikes from Jones too, including an Indian Four and a 1917 Excelsior V-twin kept in Hansen’s showroom window for many years.

    Years later, when Hansen hadn't done anything with the Crocker basket cases -- at least according to Jones -- Jones made the Big Trip to retrieve the bikes and got all four back. Bill did complain that the Indian Four had been stripped of its magneto, oil pump and a number of other key and valuable parts, and that the only 'refund' ever received from The Shop amounted to a small check which Bill says he did not cash. That’s what Bill says… but Mr Hansen may have yet another point of view? And perhaps a valid one. Who knows.

    Along with the Hansen arrangement, Jones says he commissioned Michael Schacht to produce two gearboxes for the Crocker’s, paying Schacht a handsome sum in advance. Schacht is well known in the Crocker world, re his attempt to revive the Crocker name in a now twenty-year effort somewhat reminiscent of Sun Yat Sen’s promise to return to the mainland. That’s because Schacht has evidently done little with new Crocker builds by 2020. No bikes to see beyond a single older example (the ownership of which one former partner disputes) or any information about reproduction bikes or parts being produced since 2012. Oh… unless the buyer is an esteemed and ‘personal friend’ of course!

    Back to the Jones bikes. Once Jones retrieved the two Crocker basket cases from Hansen, he took them to Patrick James to restore. The deal was one-for-one. That is, when James completed restoration of the Jones Crocker #62, then James got to keep the other, Crocker #5, as payment. From here the story just gets weirder.

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  8. The Back Story on the “New Crocker Motorcycle” Some are Too Afraid to Tell..!

    (Part 2)
    Since Jones threatened to visit Schacht personally -- to either serve a warrant or to retrieve his undelivered gearboxes -- Schacht offered to supply the gearboxes to Jones as originally agreed, so long as the particular restorer was not associated in any way with Patrick James or "Rotten Rich”. My unassailable source here will be known only as Bob.

    Bob was restoring British bikes -- not Crocker -- so Bill cooked up a scheme to pretend to ship the Crocker boxes to Bob using Bob’s Brit bike shop as an intermediary, since Bob had no relationship to anyone in the wondrous and crazy world of Crocker. That scheme would supposedly convince Schacht to provide the delinquent parts owed to Jones, to Bob. Well, Schacht had never heard of Bob in the very high-end and exclusive world of Crocker. Schacht smelled a rat, and refused to ship the boxes. So, Bob called Schacht to discuss the matter.

    Schacht said the only way to do this deal is for Bob to convince Jones to send the Crockers down to his own shop. "Tell (Bill) you love him like a brother man, and you know the only way those bikes will ever get restored properly is by Michael Schacht! Just give me the word and I’ll have an army of guys go up there and get those bikes!" Imagine Bob’s surprise that this guy would attempt to pull such a stunt. Bob transcribed the entire call and documented it in writing, in the event a legal battle should ever ensue.

    About this time Schacht hooked up with Homma Kohei and Yoshi at a dealership called the Garage Co in LA. The prices for Crocker parts were high -- $5k for a clutch basket? But what the heck, the last Crocker went for $704K at auction! My research with Yoshi concerns a conversation I won't detail. Suffice to say that no clutch basket was available, and that a genuinely honorable guy was apparently aware that something was not quite right in Denmark.

    This author’s search for Crocker parts then led to a mysterious Mr Chilli in Australia. “Mr Chili” claims to have the largest and best Crocker motorcycle collection in the world. The website still exists as ‘1346Venice’ but the contact email is long defunct. The website is untended and may have been compromised by malicious code. The phone works, but a voice message in heavy Oz says, "Text me instead because if you leave a message I won't listen to it". Great stuff.

    The explanation about ‘Mr Chili’ or Chilli - whether speculation or conjecture or the truth or all three - is that he's being pursued by a partner (ex-wife?) so feels obliged to hide his motorcycles and go to ground... and only replies to texts? As it turns out, ‘Mr Chilli’ is not Mr Chilli at all -- but one Brandon Chiles! Such is the crazy world of Crocker.

    There are other strange things about the Crocker world of yore too. One involves a prosthetic penis implant; another a Neo-Nazi and a shockingly anti-Semitic T-shirt designed to offend a certain party; then we have the sado-masochist youtube video about being tortured by a dominatrix. Such is the crazy world...

    Today, Bill’s Crocker hides in an undisclosed location as secret as Cheney's bunker, where prying eyes and trembling fingers are not allowed to see it or even know that it exists. Who knows if it is ever ridden or run? Reportedly Bill’s Crocker is mounted on a flatbed in its secret location, where the bike can quickly emerge at first appearance of a forest fire or larcenous meth freak.

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    1. Thanks for the comments. Entertaining reading! The ongoing Crocker saga is a rich vein. Someone should write a book about it sometime.

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    2. Thanks Richard and glad you enjoyed it so far! Part 3 is coming soon, once we have more detail on a particular issue. tah mate.

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  9. Part 3: The Amazing Tale Crocker Insiders are Too Afraid to Tell!

    The stolen Crocker-Bigsby front-ends, appropriated from a garage in California by ne’er-do-well and whacked-out meth freak Ricky Turner makes for interesting reading, too. The forks are heavy to haul by hand – and what’s a whacked-out druggy to do? Turner had the brilliant idea to stash the forks in a nearby junked car. Turner must have forgotten about the parts, or perhaps not cared. When the car was towed for scrap later on, the tow driver had sense enough to rescue the forks and took them to a swap meet to sell. The tow driver parted with the single-spring front end for the princely sum of $500
    when its true value must have been well north of $20K.

    Buyer Dan Statnekov then sold the part to Mike Madden for an unknown consideration. A reasonable value for a genuine single spring fork would have been perhaps $20- $30K in 2004. Today that figure would be far higher. And note that in this game of finders/keepers, neither party could have known the forks were stolen.

    Subsequent to Turner’s arrest however, the rightful owner was able to put the sequence of events together with the help of a third party, who (by fluke) had intimate knowledge of the fork and its whereabouts with Mike Madden. When the rightful owner approached Madden about its return, Madden’s words were to the effect that yeah, it probably is your part but you can’t prove it, so pound sand. Whether Madden’s gloating related to knowledge that the tow driver who sold the parts had since died, is unknown.

    As for Patrick James' Crocker #5? The original small-tank hemi-head Crocker whose weight in pounds would likely equate to the same number in ounces of gold? I have no idea what happened to it. But I did hear three years or so ago that James was happily touring the world on a luxury trip with his family. Bravo... at least something went well in the Crocker world. The ultimate kicker? - arch-nemesis and notorious “Rotten Rich” was deeply involved in the restoration of Crocker #62!

    The irony regarding this well-heeled Crocker crew relates to the counter-culture generation of the 1960‘s and 70’s from whence most of these folks originate. The hippies rejected capitalism, materialism, and possessive acquisition. But their subsequent diligent obsessive pursuit of same proves the hypocrisy residing at the core of the movement. At some point, the counter-culture
    that lived for the moment lost that moment to material ideals that they previously scorned. Instead of lofty ideals, hippies eventually fell headlong into various forms of obsessive-compulsive disorder and acquisitive mania where relic symbols of their generally misspent, errant past have become legend. The Haggerty ‘Captain America’ stunt bike from “Easy Rider” serves as the prime malign example of that particular malaise.

    And let’s ponder for example how Al Crocker might view this irksome Crocker malady were he alive today. Mr Crocker might be thrilled to learn that the latest Big Tank restoration sold for $704K at auction. But I’ll wager that if Al ever learned that any motorcycle sold for such a sum, he’d be disgusted. He’d be disgusted not just about how the US dollar has been obscenely debased but obscenely misplaced, too. When a motorcycle -- no matter how rare it is -- sells for twice the cost of a decent property the valuation of things is devilishly askew, somewhere.

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  10. Part 4: The Crazy World of the Crocker

    In essence, Crocker fixation reflects upon the curious American trait to pursue that which only the tiniest few may attain while hoping to deny others the ability to attain it. In the event the holiest of motorcycle grail may be possessed, the result must go into hiding because someone somewhere will steal it. Or sell it for parts. …or mock it... question its authenticity -- or simply vandalize the dream. That’s far different than the way things were in Al’s time -- and why no Al Crocker equivalent exists today.

    Crocker fixation highlights the futile “pursuit of things” when the thing created as a motorcycle cannot be practically used for that purpose, or experienced as the creator of the bike originally intended. The transformation from motorcycle to iconic object is characterized by cultish illusion and material dollar opportunism, where the Crocker entrepreneurial legacy is not only lost but shamelessly obliterated. Put simply, even an obscene amount of (what we call) money cannot purchase someone else’s dream, or a lost era, or evade the Keynesian truth that, "In the long run we are all dead".

    Finally, this writing has no intent to allege that any identifiable character above has done anything wrong, illegal, or even improper. The intent here is to highlight how Crocker fixation captures the essence of a broken world where all participants have devolved to a circumspect reality where none can trust the other. Such is the crazy world not just of the Crocker but for us all. --montoya1972

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  11. Quote: "I have plenty of new clutch baskets I made but I’m keeping them." -- Brendan Child

    The thing is I have it on good authority that the author is not looking for a clutch basket at all..! :)

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  13. the hippys got greedy and nasty. didn't give up the "free stuff" tho. that's why so many are thieves.... it's all about the dosh! (and a 5 finger discount) This article is weakened by not mentioning Randy Wiggins and middle finger to 'im too.

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  14. Brandon built a bike #14-61-01, he and the team deserve applause for that. My guess: this excludes Australia from Schacht patent territory. Michael Schacht will not reply to emails, I was just asking about #42-80-400, if this is a genuine number. by rights this should be 1943. Idk if this is legal stamping? He does not own the history, he owns the company name ONLY. California EPA would not allow a Carb, drum braked, no cat converter, hand shift, hard tail, as a NEW MOTORCYCLE and pass emmisions testing regulations. The testing would cost a fortune. The Crocker family will not respond because Al Crocker Jnr's property has not been returned to date, he died 2009. Bigsby's daughter Mary has distanced herself, possibly because of Crocker family. Ive been interviewing Kirk Looper for up coming article about the theft of his dads parts and Panther mc in 1969 (Elmo Looper). It appears the Crocker Register is going to take a shit and about time. The behaviour surrounding the Crocker brand is shocking, the money ruins everything. There are genuine guys involved and restore beautiful bikes. The passion is still there and needs to be guarded. The Garage company wont respond, so probably no longer parts supplier? I will be writing about the Crocker situation in future, when the Crocker family respond. Yes, its Me

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  15. The 2010 Crocker Register is rigged. It cant continue as it was last printed because there is no one left to uphold the storyline. The Looper photo album has proof of which bikes were Elmo Looper's. It appears there was a CHOP SHOP and possibly false paper work. And then there is the character they call Arte Smythe. It starts to unravel. The Crocker brand has attracted the wrong personalities because of Ego's, greed and Money.

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  16. Ernie Skelton gained the Bigsby drawings simply by borrowing them from Murray Looper and not returning them. Harry Sucher stated that Skelton had "POSSESSION" of them in the 1971 Antique mc, AMCA magazine vol 10 no3, which is a Public Notice in Public domain. The statute of limitations made Skelton the Legal owner of Al Crocker's intellectual property giving him every right to manufacture "NOS" parts and bikes. He produced dozens of replica Crocker's, which means stamping. He also wrote the Crocker Register which is highly dodgy to begin with. Sucher made no mention in 1971 that Chuck Vernon owned #39 since 1965, kinda stands out as a replica. The 2010 Register has Chucks name next to 13 bikes which should only be seen as a rough estimate of god knows how many. July 1983 Classic motorcycle mag,Chuck said there were a dozen bikes in the country !

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  17. '1346 Venice' and Schacht have proven that a small team can produce replicas, even though only 1 in Australia and 2.5 in Los Angeles. Ernie Skelton did the very same thing, decades before but with a larger net work = the AMCA members. The Crocker Register that Skelton created not only has a list of engine numbers, but it has everyone's names. A lot of hands-on talent has gone into the DOZENS of replicas, but unfortunately there will be no recognition for that, because no one wants to admit replicas exist. Skelton was a scam artist and the Crocker scam is a reflection of his character and it can only collapse sooner or later, there is no integrity. the base gives way, now that access to records are available and "The Motorcyclist" magazine contradicts the rubbish written by Harry Sucher and Chuck Vernon.

    Schacht's only market is the "Restoration" / Vintage market.

    The parts manufactured in OZ or L.A can only go into "incomplete basket cases", which is the re-occurring theme, repeated since the 1970s, the same old story, all bought from the same old guy, E R N I E S K E L T O N.

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  18. Engine 41-65H-255 self corrected itself into 41-61-255, it started off as blank cases from Chuck Vernon. With a bit of magic it turned into a complete running motorcycle and was auctioned off. This is a genuine Christmas miracle, some would call it Fraud, especially when the intent was to misrepresent a vehicle to make large money. Turning Lead into Gold, its gonna catch up to everyone

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  19. Is there any proof that 1941 Crocker's ever existed ? not according to the old magazines. Besides that, 1940 was a big year for Indian models and 1941 HD released the 74" Knucklehead, cheaper than the Crocker. Crocker manufacture was pointless in 1941, Scooter manufacture began in 1940 until mid 1941 and then Woody Mount re-Tooled the factory = Historic fact supported by Al Crocker's own hand.

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  20. Al Crocker has been portrayed as un-patriotic, a shifty person with non consecutive engine stamping, clandestine behavior and selling black market bikes in 1942. So when would it be safe for the select buyers to register and legalize these black market bikes?

    there were no mechanics working at 1346 Venice Blvd in 1942, this can be checked online. There was Woody Mount and a bunch of women working at the factory, would they part take in Black market production, when boys were dying in WW2 ?
    would Al Crocker risk getting black listed and have his business confiscated ?
    Harry Sucher said the bikes were built at a loss of $2500 per unit, why would Crocker build them during WW2 and risk losing everything ?
    Harry was full of shit but still, he did write it and it is continually repeated in books, mags and the net

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  21. Albert Gordon Crocker was born 1882 - 1962
    Albert Henry Crocker was born 1887 - 1961

    not only has Al's intellectual property been stolen, his bike and history has been hijacked and his character has been painted as dodgy, but then even his identity has been erased.

    Albert G Crocker 1882 - 1962 was a carpenter yet he name is all over the net, even Schacht uses his name on his site.

    The dick head Harry Sucher is the guy who started it all

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  22. this info is easily found on ancestry.com , by anyone

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  23. Harry Sucher claimed there was a loss of $2500 per unit. price advertised was $480, at 64 bikes = $30,720 or $160,000 loss. Al Crocker was one of Indian's top dealers, he got there by generating big money for the brand not pouring it down the drain. The claim of bikes built in 1941 and 1942 would just demonstrate bad business. The difference between a 1939 and 1940 Crocker is the paint job only. There was no practical reason to produce a 1941. Indian released the 1940 models and HD released the 74" Knuckle in 1941.

    -Iron Redskin 1977 pg 296 Harry said Elmo bought a "small stock of remaining parts" in 1952.
    -Crocker Register 2010, pg 19 Chuck said Elmo "purchased all the remaining parts and motorcycles" in 1948.
    -CYCLE WORLD Jan 2010, pg 73 "In 1970, Vernon drove to Henderson, Nevada, with a truck and trailer and dragged back "five or six bikes and a bunch of parts" from a guy who'd got the last batch of Crocker stuff from a former Crocker employee named Elmo Looper".

    ^^^ This 1970 event was not mentioned in 'Iron Redskin' 1977, or the 'Crocker Register' 2010 or 'The Antique Motorcycle' Vol 10 No3 1971.

    Elmo looper's son = "There was no parts inventory"

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  24. The 2010 Register has it printed clearly
    "prototype of the new Crocker motorcycle scheduled for sale to the public about December 2010. Engine numbers are expected to begin at #400. Photo provided by the Crocker motorcycle company"

    There is no escaping the past. Chuck Vernon published that fact in 2010. Jim Lattin bought Schachts 06-61-01 and Jeff Decker got it now.
    Jeff has his custom 41 replica motor and he also has his Hemi head ..... what now? 36-61-9 ? or 37-61-16 ? or 37-61-23 ?
    the magic number is entirely up to him.

    Al Crocker said "Twelve motors" were in production in 1936. At 12 per year for 4.5 yrs, that is 54 bikes.
    Floyd Clymer is the one who claimed in 1961, that Bigsby said 64 were built. either way the Crocker factory work force was not capable of delivering the large numbers claimed in the Crocker Register or 'Iron Redskin'.

    Schacht attempted to promote his bike as Genuine 1942 a few days ago. I had to join in and help the posting, it was not appreciated.

    What people don't realize is that the AMA has a complete library of 'The Motorcyclist' magazines from 1930s and 1940s. When that library goes digital, all of Harry and Chucks efforts are going to collapse and expose them, and who ever was standing close to them. Some well known experts of today are going to look stupid by cut n paste Harry and Chucks info.


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