Thursday, March 29, 2012

The Meredith Motorcycle Museum


From our friends at Hemmings Motor News comes this photo of a vintage NYPD "riot bike," from the archives of the American Police Motorcycle Museum in Meredith, New Hampshire.

At the museum, police bikes from as early as 1917 are on display, along with a few select police cars. The collection is dominated by Indian and Harley-Davidson models, but there are others as well. Several military vehicles round out the collection.

The museum has a large collection of period police uniforms on display, many of which are placed on mannequins straddled across the bikes. A movie theater loops vintage police training reels as well as clips from early Movietone newsreels and film.

The American Police Motorcycle Museum will be opening for the season in May; you can visit their website for hours and entrance fees. Group tours are available and active military service people are admitted free with a paid accompanying guest.

The museum is located on U.S. Route 3 (194 Daniel Webster Highway) just south of the intersection with New Hampshire Route 104, the museum is only a few miles north of Weirs Beach and a few blocks south of the Meredith Harley-Davidson dealership.

The photo below, also from the museum’s archives, shows a women’s motorcycle unit in San Francisco during World War II.