The hog is called "The Witness" and was built by Doug F. MacAlpin, general manager of Christian Choppers, Inc., a shop for custom motorcycle accessories which uses a cross in its signs and advertisements-not the Iron Cross of cycle outlaws but the cross of Christ.

"It's for real,” said Ace L. Gilbert, 25, the manager. "We're in motorcycle accessories and we happen to be Christians. We don't push ourselves on people but we don't appreciate ⚫ them coming in saying 'goddam' a lot. Why doesn't anyone ever say 'buddhadam' or 'mohammeddam'? How can people say 'I'm a Christian but I don't believe in Christ'?”

Ace was surrounded by blue steel chopper frames and chrome tailpipes and sissy bars. There was also a small rack near the door filled with tracts about finding Jesus, denouncing the homosexual life and

If we meet and you forget me, you have lost nothing; but if you meet JESUS

CHRIST and forget Him you have lost everything.

"The sign gets them in,” said Gilbert. "We get priests and nuns coming in just to ask about the name. And around Christmas time, we had a lot of parents, men and women, coming in to buy things for their sons' bikes. You won't see that in too many chopper shops."

Indeed, the new Christian Choppers, Inc., at 5040 Northfield Rd., Maple Heights, isn't a hairy hole-inthe-wall you might see in a Joe Namath-type movie. There is deep blue shag carpeting and tasteful paneling.

"We do no engine work. We have a residential neighborhood behind us. We don't want all that noise. We have a bad enough reputation just being a cycle shop," said Gilbert. "And we don't sell bikes, just custom parts. Let Rick Case and everybody else sell all the bikes they can. People will come down here to personalize it."

"We're trying to break the market open. Trying to get people from being afraid to come in," MacAlpin said. “We've had outlaws in and never had a hassle from a rider. They're real cool in here."

MacAlpin started Christian Chop-

+

pers in December, 1973, at 34300 Lakeland Blvd., Eastlake, in a TokyoShapiro outlet. Bullet Distributing, owner of Tokyo-Shapiro, in fact, is the parent company of Christian Choppers. If that sounds like an unholy alliance, it isn't-merely a family affair. The president of Bullet Distributing is William MacAlpin, Doug's brother.

According to Doug MacAlpin, the business was started for Christ. "He dictates everything I do."

MacAlpin "met Jesus" while in California. "I was in the Navy and then worked out there, finally getting my own cycle shop. I was married at 17 and my wife was 15 and her parents were always talking to us about Jesus but it never sunk in until my father-in-law's heart attack. He had a bad one and I sent my wife home. When she came back, we talked about it and I accepted Jesus. Everything I've done since then I've done after consulting Him. That's why we came back here. When you find Jesus you want to tell your family about it."

His father-in-law survived the heart attack. MacAlpin now lives with his wife and daughter on an 86-acre farm in Burton.

Gilbert "accepted Jesus when I was 17 at a revival in Mt. Calvary Baptist Church in Euclid. I just realized that if I died right then I would go to hell." He is married and is expecting a child. He still attends Mt. Calvary. MacAlpin attends rap sessions at Gospel House in Bedford.

MacAlpin built "The Witness" to promote his store and Christianity. It took about a year and won three trophies at the ninth annual Rod & Custom Auto-Rama this year: first place in radical three-wheelers, best engineering and best exhaust system. It can do 180 m.p.h. and the pilot

could hear the tape or AM-FM stereo because the speakers are mounted in front of him. MacAlpin has been invited to drive it in the Bedford 4th of July parade, and will drive it to work in good weather. "It's streetable and safe. It's got an automatic transmission. You can go slow, too."

MacAlpin told how he and Gilbert got together.

"I was working alone and needed · some help. I was interviewing people and finally hired this guy before I ever met Ace. Then he came in one

day with his bike for me to do some work on and we hit it off. Pretty soon I knew that Ace was the one I should have hired. And then the other guy got a call from the post office that they wanted him and I hired Ace."

See how Jesus works? Re

Ace L. Gilbert: "It's for real." So is his name, Ace. It's after his father. That tentative beard is now gone.