Moo 2 Photos and Event Magazine June 2014 Issue 2 | Page 40

Tommy Cass

Written by:
Tammy Hamm Pierre

Greetings riders and hot rodders and welcome to the 2nd edition of
Moo2 Photo’s and Events Magazine. This month I have the pleasure of
introducing you to a motorcycle shop owner who has been in the business since
the late 1960’s. His name is Tommy Cass, those of you from this area probably remember him best by
his shop in Hixson called Cyclerama. I met Tommy in around 2003 on a bike run with a few of my club
sisters from B.O.B. (Babes On Bikes). He was riding a Urel motorcycle with a side car, and was carrying a guy with a video camera filming the ride. It was a fun day and the first time I’d ever spoken to
him, other than asking for parts on the phone. He was one of the nicest bikers I’d ever met. But Tommy
didn’t start out working on bikes, he was working for Vandsco Signs as a graphic designer and also began
doing pinstriping on his own time. In 1971 Tommy met Terry Ruthorford, who was building some really nice custom bikes and a partnership formed, Tommy ordering the parts and doing pinstriping and
Terry doing the builds. The shop was located at Hixson Pike and Access Road, it was called “The Chop
Shop”. During this time the men traveled a lot, doing rallies, runs and shows and met many people,
including some folks from Chopper Magazine and Street Chopper Magazine where some of their bikes
were featured and even made the cover of one! Sometime around 1972 they formed a partnership with 2
guys that owned Sport Cycle, they had a big building in back and a big stock room.

During that time they wholesaled parts
to other shops and Tommy did some
graphics for their customers and for
Pate’s Harley Davidson, the business
was short lived and they sold it to Honest Charley. In 1973, Tommy went solo
and sold Harley parts for awhile and
went back to work part time at Vandsco.
He ended up getting a very small shop
on Lupton Drive in Hixson, says it was
so small you could barely turn a bike
around in it, so he began to build on.
Around 1977, Waterbed came to work
for Tommy wrenching in the back, he
said those were some fun times! Tommy rode to Sturgis in 1991 with 3 friends
and had a blast too!! Tommy’s shop
became a Urel motorcycle dealer and did
well with them for many years, then lost
his beloved wife Janice in 2001, he felt that
he needed a change and bought a 5 acre piece
of land in the country, but stayed in Hixson
for awhile. In around 2008, when the economy began to slow and parts sales on Urel’s
declined he sold what he had on E-Bay, but
kept 1 Urel. He has retired now, says no more
tire changing or back breaking wheel lacing.
We think he deserves it too, Tommy is a very
cool cat and I’m proud to call him my friend.
I hope I have all the facts straight and really enjoyed working with Tommy on this
article. He was nice enough to share some
pictures with us, hope you all enjoy his
story as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it.
In closing, I thought I’d share some of
the bikes he’s had over the years.
1964- first bike owned, 1961 Triumph TR6 with high bars and
chopped front end.
1966- first new bike, BSA Lightning
1979- bought a 1979 XLS Sportster
1984- Waterbed built a big twin for him.

Photos Courtesy of Tommy Cass

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