Wings on 1930s/1940s HD jerseys

[Eric @ B.O.S]

I've been reading Herbert Wagner's "Revolutionary Motorcycles and those who rode them - 1930-1941" recently (probably for the 3rd or 4th time). What an excellent book! It plunges me in that era everytime.

Anyway, there are alot of pictures with guys wearing HD jerseys on which the "winged" patch is on sideways/tilted.

I was wondering if anyone knew of any significance. In the book Herb says he did not know at the time of writing the book but maybe there is some news?

Herb are you there?
Eric

[exeric]

I agree with you about Herbert Wagner's book," Harley Davidson 1930-1941". I think it is the best book about that era of H-D if not the best book about that era of motorcycling in general. You couldn't ask for more interesting pictures and the pictures are accurately captioned with great little stories about the people and their machine. I also like the way the author weaves some of these people into the ongoing story about the developement of the H-D product. For me it really makes the whole story of H-D come alive. This is the book I always recommend to anyone interested in old motorcycles because it most accurately captures the atmosphere of that era.

Wow, you sure are observant Eric. I never noticed the tilted winged patch before. I'll bet there's a good story there.

[HarleyCreation]

Thanks for the nice comments.

All the guys whom I interviewed wearing those tilted Harley wings have since passed away so it's impossible to ask them. One man whom I did ask a few years ago could NOT remember why or even that the wings were worn that way. He thought maybe it was a trick of the camera angle. But clearly the wings were purposely sewn on in a tipped or slanted manner. No doubt of that.

The best theory I have heard for those tilted wings was given in a review of the 1930-1941 H-D book. The review was written by Snow, the editor of the old (now defunct) Iron Horse magazine (link below). His girlfriend (or wife maybe) supposed that perhaps riders wore the wings tilted or on a slank because those guys were also hillclimbers, or in the jargon of the day: "Slant Artists" or "Slant Shooters."

I don't know if that theory is correct, but I like it a lot because it makes perfect sense. Many of the guys wearing the slanted wings did compete in local hillclimbs during the 1930s. Dealers and clubs went all out putting on hillclimbing events. They drew many spectators. They were very popular on the West Coast and in the Midwest and elsewhere from the late 1920s on.

Lots of behind the scenes experimentation with "Home Brew" OHV engines and later factory involvement in the hillclimb scene. Some of that experimentation ended up in the Knucklehead engine. That angle was covered in more detail in that little color book I did later with Mark Mitchell's excellent color photography. Chuck at Kick Start had clued me in on some stuff I have gotten wrong or didn't know about. So the last couple chapters in that little color book are an update on the 1930-1941 book in some respects.

Snow's Review:
http://www.atthecreation.com/other.b...ucklehead.html

[Eric @ B.O.S]

thanks Herb the hillclimber explanation is great! I like to think it's correct!
Eric