Panshovel, Pan/Shovel, Pan Shovel...

It doesn't matter how you spell it, the term is a bastard. The term "pan" and/or "shovel" is a shortened version of "Panhead" or "Shovelhead" speaking to a variation of motorcycle produced during a certain time frame (1948-1965 and 1966-1984, respectively) which had rocker boxes on top of the head with characteristic features of the term used. A Panhead's rocker box tops looked like dish pans and a Shovelhead's rocker boxes looked like the head of a shovel.

Now, the Shovelhead was offered for its first three years of production as a generator bottom end. Harley was purchased by AMF in 1970 and the development of the alternator-style charging system and associated cases lead to the demise of earlier-style cases in that same year. Those early generator cases were the same as those used in prior motorcycles, including the Panhead.

With that being said, if the term "Panhead" speaks specifically to the rocker boxes used, as does the term "Shovelhead" then by clear logic one would call the motor by what was resting on the tops of the cylinders instead of by some derivative term that was developed so that '66-'69 model Shovelhead owners could feel slightly more significant than '70-'84 Shovelhead owners. Even if asked when the Shovelhead began production, these people would still tell you 1966, but with the audacity to continue to use a bastardized term. Even a Panhead motor that had been upgraded to a Shovelhead top end would no longer be a PanHEAD, but it could be described as a motor that started out as a Panhead, but was converted to a Shovelhead.

Since the terms are explicity used to acknowledge the top end then they should be associated with those years in which they were produced, as there were never Panheads placed on 1966-later models from the factory. So to call a generator case Shovelhead a "Pan Shovel (or some form of it)" shows complete disregard for timeline as well as the real definition of the terms being used. It is ignorant.

To date there is only instance where Pan/Shovel (or a variation) would be appropriate, and that is in the case of a bike like those that Indian Larry built in which one head from each era was used in a mismatched fashion. Any bike produced in this fashion could LOGICALLY use hybrid terminology.

Stop calling it a PanShovel, asshole.