VL sidecar paint

[Joseph.Greiner]

I have searched but have been unable to find information on painting a VL era sidecar. The bike is Venetian Blue and Silver. Would the colors continue onto the side car body, or would it just be the primary color? The only photographs I can find are of rebuilt/restored sidecars and the paint seems different on all the examples. Some have the 2 tone paint scheme, others solid. One example had the primary color on the body with the secondary as a stripe. Any help is much appreciated.

Joe

[bselph]

Depends upon the year. 1930-34 had one color body with the same pinstripe color as the bike. I am not sure after that. There are several in the HD museum. Here is my 1933 which I talked to Bill Rodencal at HD about before I painted it.

[bselph]

Depends upon the year. 1930-34 had one color body with the same pinstripe color as the bike. I am not sure after that. There are several in the HD museum. Here is my 1933 which I talked to Bill Rodencal at HD about before I painted it.

[Joseph.Greiner]

Thank you very much, I will see if I can get a hold of Bill or someone at the museum and see if there is information on differences on 35-36.

[Chris Haynes]

[Chris Haynes]

No comment?

[Steve Slocombe]

Dear Chris, they must be early pre-production pictures of the '35 outfit as it still has the Motolamp rather than the Cycleray headlamp announced as new for that season. It looks like the Goulding sidecar. The 1931/32 VL with the deer looks to have a special paint job with the mudguard centre panel filled in, rather than the pinstriped lines either side of the hump in the middle. Also has the optional sidecar lamp. It's also hard to see the divider stripe between the colours, so maybe an early re-paint?

[Chris Haynes]

Dear Chris, they must be early pre-production pictures of the '35 outfit as it still has the Motolamp rather than the Cycleray headlamp announced as new for that season. It looks like the Goulding sidecar. The 1931/32 VL with the deer looks to have a special paint job with the mudguard centre panel filled in, rather than the pinstriped lines either side of the hump in the middle. Also has the optional sidecar lamp. It's also hard to see the divider stripe between the colours, so maybe an early re-paint?

Sreve,
All I can tell you is that they are all factory photos from the Pohlman archives. I am sure the bike is a pre-production model as most all photos for advertising for the new year models showed pre-production bikes.

[Joseph.Greiner]

Thanks for those photos Chris! The 35 is exactly what I have been searching for. It looks like the pinstripe on the body ends in an arrow similar to the details on the fuel tanks. It also looks like underneath the spare tire there is decal similar to what is on the fuel tanks. Possibly the diamond Harley-Davidson with "wings" going out from both sides, but the angle of the diamond doesn't look like a match to the fuel tanks. Hopefully I can find a picture of the rear of the sidecar and figure this out.