Advice Needed!

[LuckyLuke]

Hello all, im new to this forum and i have joined because im new to the scene and looking for some advice. Im 26 and have been restoring classic cars for years and riding bikes for even longer, but now as im reaching the end of my current project i have decided its time to indulge myself with a classic harley. Ive been in love with thw WLA/C for years and have recently started trawling the internet for information and to start browsing prices. The only problem is that im struggling to find good sources of reference especially when it comes to finding bikes for sale and trying to find out what sort of prices i should be looking at for, complete but in need of full restoration to completed restored bikes.

Any help or advice anyone could give me would be really appreciated,

Many thanks, Luke

[kevscrivener]

Hi Luke

I'm on my second 45, had the first one for five years and bought another last year.

The straight answer is they're horribly overpriced for what they are; ex-military 3-speed side-valves with a top speed of about 65 mph. You'll have no doubt seen them go on e-bay for anything from £5000 to £10,000 and to be honest they are not really that rare.

Now you've had the downside, here are the plus points. Once you get used to riding them, they're huge fun, very forgiving and have bags of character. They're also virtually bullet-proof and will last forever provided you maintain them well. Spares are plentiful, though if you try to go down the originality route they can be a bit pricey; however virtually everything is available aftermarket. For workshop manuals, the Army books are available as facsimile copies at a reasonable price, and for the purist restorer I highly recommend Bruce Palmer's "How to restore your Harley-Davidson", the acknowledged bible of concours builders.

So what should you buy? Many of them ended up being chopped in the 60's and 70's, the results ranging from the rather neat to the utterly hideous and plain unrideable. I'd suggest you're better off avoiding them, but that's just my personal opinion.

Others were built as "bobbers" ; if you're not familiar with the term, that basically means all the heavy stuff like mudguards gets stripped off to achieve a lowslung minimalist look, usually without alterations to the frame itself. It's a neat style and a good thing to go for if you pick up one in rough condition and are on a limited budget. Then you've got the "civilianised" ones like mine which are exactly that; a military 45 with civvy bits like mudguards and chrome trim. This is mine here;





The most desirable ones for serious collectors are the genuine military bikes which have not been restored, of course. It follows that very few WLA's are in fact original despite what the spiel says on the e-bay description; in fact they're probably the first "custom" Harleys!

A few things to watch out for; quite a few were rebuilt with British foot-change gearboxes, with varying degrees of success. As above, I'd avoid buying one with a messed-about frame, can be expensive to put right. If you come across one that's claimed to be "built by Fred Warr" then make sure the claim is genuine; Fred (a founder member of HDRCGB) is acknowledged as the doyen of 45 restorers in the UK, but he and his father sold a huge number of civilianised WLA's in the 1950's and it may well be that the bike was merely bought from their shop. Doesn't mean though that it ain't a good 'un!

You won't find your 45 BTW; my guess is that it'll find you.

[panheadpete]

I'll tell you what else will find you; whenever you park it somewhere, somebody will come up to you and tell you that a mate of his had one of those and when he looked under the seat there was a plaque saying 'Given to Elvis Presley by James Dean 1959', he had been offered $3 million for it but refused to sell....
Actually happened to me the other week and I was on a Road King
Cheers,
Pete

[kiwidave]

God, how funny that that urban myth is STILL going around

Luke, buy without fear once you see the right-priced one. Parts are surprisingly plentiful, as the engine was actually manufactured for 40 years by Harley-Davidson (after the demise of the WL, it was used in the Servicar three wheeler until 1972, or is it '73?), and there are many many enthusiast groups on and off line. Lots of them in use as daily riders in UK, Europe and Australasia, even now.

[English Steve]

Hi Luke. Have a look here for dealer prices restored and unrestored.
As Kev said, mine found me rather than the other way around! Photos in my album.

[Limey_Dave]

Originally Posted by English Steve

Hi Luke. Have a look here for dealer prices restored and unrestored.
As Kev said, mine found me rather than the other way around! Photos in my album.

http://www.harley-davidson-hangout.c...hp?albumid=123

[LuckyLuke]

Thankyou all so much, some really good advice and its good to know theres people out there to help, especially mid resto when it gets the better of you, Im just putting the finishing touched on my '66 VW splitscreen then the hunt is on! Just got to decide how much of a project I want to take on, time will tell

Thanks again

Luke

[English Steve]

Originally Posted by Limey_Dave

http://www.harley-davidson-hangout.c...hp?albumid=123

Thanks again Dave. I really must try to get the hang of this computer stuff

[FXSTC Dave]

Originally Posted by panheadpete

I'll tell you what else will find you; whenever you park it somewhere, somebody will come up to you and tell you that a mate of his had one of those and when he looked under the seat there was a plaque saying 'Given to Elvis Presley by James Dean 1959', he had been offered $3 million for it but refused to sell....
Actually happened to me the other week and I was on a Road King
Cheers,
Pete

P.S.

Dont forget James Dean died in 1955.