Harley Barn Find

[cashflyer]

Recently our company sent a couple of our engineers to look at some equipment at a client's location.

Today one of the engineers emailed me the following photos of a bike that was parked on the property. One of the client reps said that the bike has been parked there since "after the war" as a gate guardian. They just paint it every couple of years when it needs it.






What do you think?
Should we try and talk them out of their gate guardian?


Once upon a time, it should have looked like this:

[afterburn 549]

Amazing !

[jwgn777]

Where did the fuel cap go? lol Great find.

[Chocaholic]

Should buff right out.

[Brando]

Can it be restored? How much would need to be replaced vs. restored?

[afterburn 549]

20,000 G ought to get you started

[Rot 911]

They aren't particularly rare, so the problem will be that it will cost more to restore than it is worth.

[5String43]

Yeah, they're maybe not all that rare, but you certainly don't see them every day. Someone is going to buy the thing. The only question, it seems to me, is this: Is it going to be you? If I were in your shoes, I'd buy it. As past projects, and the one sitting in my garage, attest.

[Steve Carlton]

[livi]

I think it looks beautiful just as it is right there.

[afterburn 549]

I was just looking on C.L. Upstate NY there are several........

[VINMAN]

You don't want that. Totally worthless piece of junk. I'll tell you what, I'll even come and take it off your hands to save you the trouble of disposing it.

[Gogar]

buy a nice running one. Paint it seafoam green. Use the tank badge or the speedo from this one, and call it RESTORED!

[yel911]

Paint it seafoam green. Use the tank badge or the speedo from this one, and call it RESTORED!

I thought it was a new one!!!!

[cashflyer]

I am particularly concerned about the condition of any parts currently below ground.
I figure this one will cost more to restore than it is worth.

Buy it? Hell, if I play my cards right, it is probably free.
Other than the cost of shipping it from Europe.

Which brings up more questions....
Was this abandoned US Gov property?
Was this provided to a foreign country on the lend-lease program?

Great provenance, but how the heck to you make it 'legally yours'?

[speeder]

Originally Posted by afterburn 549

20,000 G ought to get you started

20,000 thousands??

I'm going to go the other way and say that this looks pretty easy to restore. It's an extremely simple machine and it really does not look that bad. It does not look like it's been sitting out in the elements for 70 years, that's for sure. Where is the extreme rust and degradation? Parts, (like the seat), would have simply fell off and/or decomposed over that long out in the sun and rain, etc. Nah, this has been stored inside for most all of that time.

[afterburn 549]

True, How ever those who have to "hire out" everything,.........gets spendy in a hurry!

[Jeff Higgins]

It's not an Army bike; too many details are wrong.

This would be a project for a guy who does a lot of these and has lots of parts already on hand. It would be a nightmare for anyone else. Yes, parts are "available", but you really need to know what you are looking at as far as real vintage Harley parts. There are an awful lot of repops out there, and most are cheap Chinese junk. It's a real problem in the Harley resto world; nothing devalues a bike more than being adorned with these parts. Some look pretty good to the untrained eye - good fit and finish, but inferior materials underneath, chrome (where used - there really isn't much on older Harleys) flakes off, corrosion starts underneath the finish, etc. It's a real minefield, and if you have never navigated it, you will almost certainly get into trouble.

45" flatheads are by far the least collectable or desireable of the old Harleys. They really are "a dime a dozen", and for good reason. They are barely usable in modern traffic. Fun to putt around on a lonely country road, but their thundering 12-15 horsepower gets old really, really fast.

In the end, if you grab this thing, it will be the most expensive, useless "free" thing you have ever acquired. Leave it to someone who does a lot of this and knows the game, and buy a finished one if you really want one. I bet you really don't...

[cashflyer]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

It's not an Army bike; too many details are wrong.

Jeff... please edumicate me.
I've owned a couple of Harleys, but nothing like this. Tell me what is "wrong".


Wiki says that the WLA was made from 42-43, then again from 49-52.
But the Army bike should not have the tank badge, and the fenders look wrong.
Maybe a regular, civilian WL like this one?

[Jeff Higgins]

Wow - where to start... Just right off the top - the fenders are both civilian (and the front looks like an FL, not WL), the seat, rear rack, tail light, headlight, tank badges, tires, air horn (Army bikes had a real air filter), just to get started. It's definitely a civilian bike.