Vintage Pics of the Day

[BigLakeBob]

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[BigLakeBob]

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[BigLakeBob]

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[BigLakeBob]

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[BigLakeBob]

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[BigLakeBob]

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[Ross]

Let's see if Bob has more details on the military bikes picture. Maybe they are not army mechanics but just guys sorting through a pile of surplus bikes for sale in 1945/46. For Roger, the WLCs had left hand throttle, presumably because the Canadians had Indians early in WW2. Most of the bikes were left in Holland and the UK after WW2, with many of them still running today. Dealer Fred Warr told me he didn't sell a new Harley in the UK until the late 1950s, and I've seen 200 45s at the Old Timers Rally in Holland. They are cheered as they ride through the streets of Den Haag, because the Dutch call the Harley 45s 'Liberators' and have a folk memory of GIs riding in to rescue them from Nazi occupation. There are a lot of nos parts in Holland too, so the enthusiastic owners just keep those bikes going.

Right on the money Steve. .Canadian DR's rode British bikes in 1939 and 40 with a hand clutch set up.. Then the NAZI bombing halted the supply of Norton 16H and BSA M20's to name a few brands.....Canada went to the Indian company..left hand throttle 1940 Chiefs etc. Indian was not so good at parts supply, then a contract with a new company HD was in order... 1942 WLC's were ordered with left hand throttle and foot clutch and a hand clutch too.. Matching front and rear wheels and big twin front end bits..a 42 WLC has a round front light with 2 soup can lights at the rear and a 43 has a pin shaped front and 2 pin shaped at the rear. I could go on about the subtle changes but that's enough. If you look at the photo you can see the difference between a 42 and a 43...Canada did lend lease with Holland and left ,most of their stuff their as well the same thing on the eastern front in Czech..A friend didn't get sent home after the war for 6 months as he was in Czech doing paper work on lend lease. Not only motorcycles but trucks too. I'm told old troop carriers made excellent gravel trucks for decades. .In short Canada didn't have the cost to ship vehicles home, then have to sell, but also got a war torn civilization back on their feet with transportation

[JoJo357]

*M.A.D.*
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[Steve Slocombe]

Dear Ross, let's not forget that big batch of Type VII Harley WLAs that went as Lend Lease to Russia in 1944/5. Serial numbers were 42WLA then real high figures in the 60-70,000 range. Just before the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, entrepreneurs were bringing them over to the West in trucks and selling them. I saw several at the big Mannheim shows in the early 1990s. About ten percent were nice, with many original features, but the rest were totally thrashed. Hay stuffed in the tyres when they couldn't get inner tubes, rear frame tubes worn through by loose sidecar attachments, quarter inch drill bits sawn up to use as rollers. I thought the market would never take such an onslaught of project bikes, but was of course proved wrong.

[ihrescue]

Vintage Pic of the Day - June 2, 2021

Durham, NC 1920ish

Mike Love

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[ihrescue]

*M.A.D.*
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This was a movie publicity shot from the film Blonde Fever. The blonde in question, second from left was the attractive Gloria Grahame who also played as Violet, a down on her luck floozy in Its A Wonderful Life. Left to right in this photo is Marshall Thompson, Gloria Grahame, Mary Astor and Phillip Dorn. Of course the star here is a Harley Davidson EL OHV. Can anyone suggest a year? This film was released 1944. Also can anyone offer comments on the front fender badge with "Super Deluxe"?

Mike Love

[Rubone]

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This was a movie publicity shot from the film Blonde Fever. The blonde in question, second from left was the attractive Gloria Grahame who also played as Violet, a down on her luck floozy in Its A Wonderful Life. Left to right in this photo is Marshall Thompson, Gloria Grahame, Mary Astor and Phillip Dorn. Of course the star here is a Harley Davidson EL OHV. Can anyone suggest a year? This film was released 1944. Also can anyone offer comments on the front fender badge with "Super Deluxe"?

Mike Love

The "Super Deluxe" emblem is from a '41-'42 Ford. The bike looks like a .'42 with the Deluxe package, the last so equipped until after the war. The Eagle fender tip was new for '42 along with the so called squashed bird used on '41 and '42 models only. And more likely it is an FL and not an EL as the top of the line was what those with money chose.

[Ross]

Dear Ross, let's not forget that big batch of Type VII Harley WLAs that went as Lend Lease to Russia in 1944/5. Serial numbers were 42WLA then real high figures in the 60-70,000 range. Just before the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, entrepreneurs were bringing them over to the West in trucks and selling them. I saw several at the big Mannheim shows in the early 1990s. About ten percent were nice, with many original features, but the rest were totally thrashed. Hay stuffed in the tyres when they couldn't get inner tubes, rear frame tubes worn through by loose sidecar attachments, quarter inch drill bits sawn up to use as rollers. I thought the market would never take such an onslaught of project bikes, but was of course proved wrong.

You are so right Steve..The USA too were very involved in lend leasing..I think I had a conversation once in Las Vegas, with David Sarifan a well known WLA expert and I believe he told me he brought over a substantial number in that period..45's are wonderful bikes and I love to ride them....Our local Harley dealer bought over 200 hundred after the war..They were advertised right up to 1961 in their catalogue..$225 for a refurbished and $275 for a new one..O to go back in time and have some cash

[JoJo357]

You are so right Steve..The USA too were very involved in lend leasing..I think I had a conversation once in Las Vegas, with David Sarifan a well known WLA expert and I believe he told me he brought over a substantial number in that period..45's are wonderful bikes and I love to ride them....Our local Harley dealer bought over 200 hundred after the war..They were advertised right up to 1961 in their catalogue..$225 for a refurbished and $275 for a new one..O to go back in time and have some cash[/QUOTE]

I have a lot of the old NYC Iron Horse Magazines. I remember they were keeping close tabs on David Sarafan, because David was expecting the long awaited shipment of WLA's from around Europe, to arrive at the NYC Ocean docks. I think Sarafan had operations somewhere in, or around NYC at the time? I'll have to look for the articles in Iron Horse, to confirm my CRS sometimes memory. But the I.H. photos showed these WLA's stacked to utilize every square inch squished anyway they could, diagonally, sideways-upside down, inside 45' trailers. I used to see David in Daytona for B.W. when he set up shop at the Volusia Swap Meet. He always had time to Yak, and when i asked him about those pictures, he told me with laughter, that they loaded them that way because they thought up until the very last moment the US Government would change their minds about letting him take possession.

https://www.davidsarafan.com/Artist....82&ajx=1#!home

http://www.theliberator.be/liberator4.htm

*M.A.D.*

[JoJo357]

Before Marshall Thompson aka 'Freddie' in the 1944 release of...'Blonde Fever' , can hop on that Brand Spankin' New looking 1942 Deluxe FL, he's riding a beat-up J or JD chopper/bobber of the times.
Here the Movie--Enjoy.

https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=AwrDQ2oz17hgMTIAtFf7w8QF;_ylu=c2VjA3NyBH NsawN2aWQEdnRpZAMEZ3BvcwMx?p=Blonde+Fever.&vid=be6 b9eed96754ec9aba2bf666e9bbce6&turl=https://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=OVP.7iGYwNiEgywYQPaf51fe-AEsCo&pid=Api&h=168&w=300&c=7&rs=1&rurl=https://ok.ru/video/2157428738723&tit=Blonde+Fever+1944+-+Mary+Astor,+Gloria+Grahame,+Philip+Dorn&c=0&h=168 &w=300&l=4130&sigr=XiZlSBa3_Is7&sigt=ZSFdH4fM.F tZ& sigi=l8VqEhimDgQv&age=1578211200&fr2=p:s,v:v&fr=aa plw&tt=b

*M.A.D.*
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