A
superb and rare photo of the legendary 1917
Harley-Davidson J Model motorcycle.
Harley-Davidson has a long and very interesting history
that started as early as in 1901. That year, William S. Harley, age 21, drew up
plans for a small engine with a displacement of 7.07 cubic inches
(116 cc) and four-inch (102 mm)
flywheels. The engine was designed for use in a regular pedal-bicycle frame.
Over the next two years Harley and his childhood friend Arthur Davidson labored
on their motor-bicycle using the northside Milwaukee machine shop at the home of their
friend, Henry Melk. It was finished in 1903 with the help of Arthur's brother,
Walter Davidson. Upon completion the boys found their power-cycle unable to
conquer Milwaukee's
modest hills without pedal assistance. Will Harley and the Davidsons quickly
wrote off their first motor-bicycle as a valuable learning experiment. Work
immediately began on a new and improved second-generation machine. This first
"real" Harley-Davidson motorcycle had a bigger engine of
24.74 cubic inches (405 cc) with 9.75 inches (25 cm) flywheels
weighing 28 lb
(13 kg).
The machine's advanced loop-frame pattern was similar to the 1903 Milwaukee
Merkel motorcycle (designed by Joseph Merkel, later of Flying Merkel fame). The
bigger engine and loop-frame design took it out of the motorized-bicycle
category and would help define what a modern motorcycle should contain in the
years to come. The boys also received help with their bigger engine from
outboard motor pioneer Ole Evinrude, who was then building gas engines of his
own design for automotive use on Milwaukee's
Lake Street.
The prototype of the new loop-frame Harley-Davidson was assembled in a
10 ft × 15 ft (3.0 m × 4.6 m) shed in
the Davidson family backyard. Most of the major parts, however, were made elsewhere,
including some probably fabricated at the West Milwaukee
railshops where oldest brother William A. Davidson was then toolroom foreman.
This prototype machine was functional by September 8, 1904, when it competed in a Milwaukee motorcycle race held at State Fair
Park. It was ridden by
Edward Hildebrand and placed fourth. This is the first documented appearance of
a Harley-Davidson motorcycle in the historical record. In January 1905, small
advertisements were placed in the "Automobile and Cycle Trade
Journal" that offered bare Harley-Davidson engines to the do-it-yourself
trade. By April, complete motorcycles were in production on a very limited
basis. That year the first Harley-Davidson dealer, Carl H. Lang of Chicago, sold three bikes
from the dozen or so built in the Davidson backyard shed. (Some years later the
original shed was taken to the Juneau
Avenue factory where it would stand for many decades
as a tribute to the Motor Company's humble origins. Unfortunately, the first
shed was accidentally destroyed by contractors in the early 1970s during a
clean-up of the factory yard.) In 1906, Harley and the Davidsons built their
first factory on Chestnut Street
(later Juneau Avenue).
This location remains the Motor Company's corporate headquarters today. The
first Juneau Avenue
plant was a 40 by 60-foot (18 m)
single-story wooden structure. That year around 50 motorcycles were produced.
In 1907, William S. Harley graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison
with a degree in mechanical engineering. That year additional factory expansion
came with a second floor and later with facings and additions of Milwaukee pale yellow
("cream") brick. With the new facilities production increased to 150
motorcycles in 1907. The company was officially incorporated that September.
They also began selling their motorcycles to police departments around this
time, a market that has been important to them ever since. Production in 1905
and 1906 were all single-cylinder models with 26.84 cubic inches
(439.8 cc) engines. In February 1907 a prototype model with a 45-degree V-Twin
engine was displayed at the Chicago Automobile Show. Although shown and advertised,
very few V-Twin models were built between 1907 and 1910. These first V-Twins displaced
53.68 cubic inches (879.7 cc) and produced about 7 horsepower
(5.2 kW). This gave about double the power of the first singles. Top speed
was about 60 mph
(97 km/h).
Production jumped from 450 motorcycles in 1908 to 1,149 machines in 1909. By
1911, some 150 makes of motorcycles had already been built in the United States –
although just a handful would survive the 1910s. In 1911, an improved V-Twin
model was introduced. The new engine had mechanically operated intake valves,
as opposed to the "automatic" intake valves used on earlier V-Twins
that opened by engine vacuum. With a displacement of 49.48 cubic inches
(810.8 cc), the 1911 V-Twin was smaller than earlier twins, but gave
better performance. After 1913 the majority of bikes produced by
Harley-Davidson would be V-Twin models. By 1913, the yellow brick factory had
been demolished and on the site a new 5-story structure of reinforced concrete
and red brick had been built. Begun in 1910, the red brick factory with its
many additions would take up two blocks along Juneau Avenue and around the corner on 38th Street. Despite
the competition, Harley-Davidson was already pulling ahead of Indian and would
dominate motorcycle racing after 1914. Production that year swelled to 16,284
machines. In 1917, the United
States entered World War I and the military
demanded motorcycles for the war effort. Harleys had already been used by the
military in the Pancho Villa Expedition but World War I was the first time the
motorcycle had been adopted for combat service. Harley-Davidson provided about
15,000 machines to the military forces during World War I. By 1920,
Harley-Davidson was not by far the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the
world, though their motorcycles were sold by dealers in 67 countries.
Production was 28,189 machines. In 1921, a Harley-Davidson, ridden by Otto Walker,
was the first motorcycle ever in the USA to win a race at an average
speed of over 100 mph
(160 km/h).
During the 1920s, several improvements were put in place, such as a new 74
cubic inch (1200cc) V-Twin, introduced in 1922, and the "Teardrop"
gas tank in 1925. A
front brake was added in 1928.
In the late summer of 1929, Harley-Davidson introduced
its 45 cubic inch flathead V-Twin to compete with the Indian 101 Scout and the
Excelsior Super X. This as the "D" model, produced from 1929 to 1931.
Riders of Indian motorcycles derisively referred to this model as the
"three cylinder Harley" because the generator was upright and
parallel to the front cylinder. The 2.745 in (69.7 mm) bore and
3.8125 in (96.8 mm) stroke would continue in most versions of the 750
engine; exceptions include the XA and the XR750. The Great Depression began a
few months after the introduction of their 45 cubic inch model.
Harley-Davidson's sales plummeted from 21,000 in 1929 to 3,703 in 1933. Despite
those dismal numbers, Harley-Davidson proudly unveiled its lineup for 1934,
which included a Flathead with art deco styling. In order to survive the
remainder of the Depression, the company manufactured industrial powerplants
based on their motorcycle engines. They also designed and built a three-wheeled
delivery vehicle called the Servi-Car, which remained in production until 1973. In the mid-'30s,
Alfred Rich Child opened a production line in Japan with the 74ci VL. The
Japanese license-holder severed its business relations with Harley-Davidson in
1936 and continued manufacturing the VL under the Rikuo name. An 80 cubic inch
flathead engine was added to the line in 1935, by which time the
single-cylinder motorcycles had been discontinued. In 1936, the 61E and 61EL
models with the "Knucklehead" OHV engines was introduced. Valvetrain
problems in early Knucklehead engines required a redesign halfway through its
first year of production and retrofitting of the new valvetrain on earlier
engines. By 1937, all Harley-Davidson's flathead engines were equipped with
dry-sump oil recirculation systems similar to the one introduced in the
"Knucklehead" OHV engine. The revised 74 cubic inch V and VL models
were renamed U and UL, the 80 cubic inch VH and VLH to be renamed UH and ULH,
and the 45 cubic inch R to be renamed W.
In 1941, the 74 cubic inch "Knucklehead" was introduced as the
F and the FL. The 80 cubic inch flathead UH and ULH models were discontinued
after 1941, while the 74" U & UL flathead models were produced up to
1948. One of only two American cycle manufacturers to survive the Great
Depression, Harley-Davidson again produced large numbers of motorcycles for the
US Army in World War II and resumed civilian production afterwards, producing a
range of large V-twin motorcycles that were successful both on racetracks and
for private buyers. Harley-Davidson, on the eve of World War II, was already
supplying the Army with a military-specific version of its 45" WL line,
called the WLA. (The A in this case stood for "Army".) Upon the
outbreak of war, the company, along with most other manufacturing enterprises,
shifted to war work. Over 90,000 military motorcycles, mostly WLAs and WLCs
(the Canadian version) would be produced, many to be provided to allies.
Harley-Davidson received two Army-Navy ‘E’ Awards, one in 1943 and the other in
1945, which were awarded for Excellence in Production. Shipments to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease program numbered at
least 30,000. The WLAs produced during all four years of war production
generally have 1942 serial numbers. Production of the WLA stopped at the end of
World War II, but was resumed from 1950 to 1952 for use in the Korean War. The
U.S. Army also asked Harley-Davidson to produce a new motorcycle with many of
the features of BMW's side-valve and shaft-driven R71. Harley largely copied
the BMW engine and drive train and produced the shaft-driven 750 cc 1942
Harley-Davidson XA. This shared no dimensions, no parts and no design concepts
(except side valves) with any prior Harley-Davidson engine. Due to the superior
cooling of the flat-twin engine with the cylinders across the frame, Harley's
XA cylinder heads ran 100 °F
(56 °C)
cooler than its V-twins. The XA never entered full production: the motorcycle
by that time had been eclipsed by the Jeep as the Army's general purpose
vehicle, and the WLA—already in production—was sufficient for its limited
police, escort, and courier roles. Only 1,000 were made and the XA never went
into full production. It remains the only shaft-driven Harley-Davidson ever
made. As part of war reparations, Harley-Davidson acquired the design of a
small German motorcycle, the DKW RT125 which they adapted, manufactured, and
sold from 1947 to 1966. Various models were made, including the Hummer from
1955 to 1959, but they are all colloquially referred to as "Hummers"
at present. BSA in the United
Kingdom took the same design as the
foundation of their BSA Bantam.
We
have more photos, also listed on Ebay, of other bikes, and various motorcycle
(world) champions on various kinds of machinery. Please check out our auctions
and take advantage of our shipping discount! The auction selection is refreshed
and changed continuously.
This
is your rare chance to own this non
period photo that reflects a very interesting and historic piece of motorcycle
history. Therefore it is printed in a nice large format of ca. 8" x 12” (ca. 20 x 30 cm).