Article about the "First Harley"

[HarleyCreation]

I wonder what motorcycle is behind brick # 2 ??

I know what you're thinking. And that could/should be a good article or column sometime. This inexplicably puzzling mystery of the famous then vanished first proto real Harley DEMANDS further investigation.

First $2 million motorcycle if we can locate it!

[HarleyCreation]

BTW

Didn't Lonnie say that his dad's 6-stud came out of Florida?

Maybe THAT bike is the one legend has it that Lang took to Florida with him.

Remember that tidbit?

If true, we might look for 599 in another direction.

Makes a guy wonder, don't it????

[silentgreyfello]

Lonnie, maybe your dad will let you modify his bike to look like #599!!! You mentioned that his bike had a modified rear section. By coincidence, wasn't there mention of something about the chain stays on the 599 bike?

[c.o.]

Lonnie, maybe your dad will let you modify his bike to look like #599!!!

If I'm not mistaken, Lonnie is already on the job of getting a reincarnation of 599 happening. This is all very interesting......... where is that original machine???

[jurassic]

florida bike

hi guys sorry for the slow response ,just got back from barbers.splendid event.and cory i looked ,but no warwick motorcycle to be had. as for the green 6 bolt.the story is that my dad use to tow his drag bike back to the pitts with a 39 knuck sidecar rig,all orig.on saturday an elderly gentleman was admiring the knuck,and told my dad that he had a 1903 harley at home that use to belong to a harley executive.but it needed restored ,and was in pieces.so my dad talks the guy into bringing it out.so on sunday first thing this guy shows up with the bike in a large box ,in the back of his truck.after some negotiation the bike was purchased for about $1,500.00.by the end of the day my dad had it on wheels,with the engine in it.when he got it home we looked thru the few books that were available at the time,and judged from the front fork that it was a 1907.{the dark ages those days were}.it wasn't until years later when the traveling museum came thru town that he realized the difference in the engines,and the gas tanks ,and began to think maybe the old man was true to his word.it came just as the picture shows,with the dodge carb and the rear seat,and the strange exhaust cutout.i stripped the green paint off the tank myself.and it is all real,with many dents under the seat,and it is the early style.the later type fork is a perfect original.the frame has round tubing on the rear legs,instead of tapered tubing,and the axle plates are fabbed.the muffler has a cutout. when i first read herbs book,and learned about lang retiring to florida and taking an old motorcycle with him.well that definatly got my attention.i also think personally that even 50 years ago or longer it would have been nearly impossible to just round up enough strap tank parts randomly to assemble a bike.so i figured the "harley executive" angle might have held some water.but again after reading herbs book and seeing the many , many ,factory pics back into the 20's of the factory collection,the bike never appears.but neither does the bike that harley gave to the ford museum in the 50's.it was a hodgepodge,but where did it come from?more questions than answers.

[c.o.]

Now that's a great story. Those certainly were the days of discovery. Can anyone imagine stumbling across a strap tank like that now? Not likely. It's great stories like this one that makes our bike obsession all that more interesting! What stage is the machine in now?

[QUOTE=jurassic;71331] cory i looked ,but no warwick motorcycle to be had. QUOTE]

Thanks for looking! But I was assured that the Warwick is there, but is in storage. Apparently they are building a new wing in the future and it will be displayed then. Brian said when it surfaces he will send me a few pictures.

[Chris Haynes]

when i first read herbs book,and learned about lang retiring to florida and taking an old motorcycle with him.well that definatly got my attention.

It got my attention too. Until I learned that C.H. Lang only wintered in FL. The rest of the year he lived in MI. So what happened to the '04 Harley in 1926 when Mr. Lang retired. Did it stay in his business with the new owner? Did he take it with him to MI or FL? Inquiring minds need to know!

[HarleyCreation]

Seems possible/likely that Lonnie's dad's 6-stud could have been stuff that Lang dragged around and took to Florida. Lang was a "company executive" like the elderly previous owner had stated. That's a rather striking detail that can't be ignored. From the obit that Chris posted we find:

"Mr. Lang served on the board of directors of our company for many years."

That it was a hodgepodge of parts isn't surprising. Lang sold his dealership c1926, so anything he had left after that may have been bits and pieces. We've all encountered that scenario. And when you're the FIRST Harley dealer like Lang was, imagine the stuff you might have tossed into a corner as junk and that just sat. Then years later, you (or the next guy) gets the urge to build a bike out of it, and you gather whatever else might be at hand or that some old pal gives you.

If this green 6-stud was the bike that Lang took to Florida with him as legend states, then it may be that the 1904 proto bike (599) never left the Midwest, and may be there still.

Earl, have you compared the green bike frame to the Neg. 599 frame? You have a great feel for these early parts and no mistake.

[jurassic]

lang

its definatly interesting to hash out these old theories and legends ,and see if anything concrete pops up.i'll try and get a picture posted of the florida frame,as i need to know what 599's frame should look like anyway.maybe earl can give me some help on that.i also have somewhere a picture of the florida bike just minutes after it was purchased at the drag strip.maybe my dad can remember the year and location.he wants to put it back to the correct 1905 style.personally i wanted it left alone.although the bike has limited history{30 years or so}.it would definatly have a story to tell if it could talk. how it ended up like it was must be a fantastic story.i agree a dealer like lang in business from the start would have had many of these early parts lying around.lang did make the clutch too.

[HarleyCreation]

its definatly interesting to hash out these old theories and legends ,and see if anything concrete pops up.i'll try and get a picture posted of the florida frame,as i need to know what 599's frame should look like anyway.maybe earl can give me some help on that.i also have somewhere a picture of the florida bike just minutes after it was purchased at the drag strip.maybe my dad can remember the year and location.he wants to put it back to the correct 1905 style.personally i wanted it left alone.although the bike has limited history{30 years or so}.it would definatly have a story to tell if it could talk. how it ended up like it was must be a fantastic story.i agree a dealer like lang in business from the start would have had many of these early parts lying around.lang did make the clutch too.

That would be great. Any chance we can learn the name of the elderly gentleman who had owned the bike? Slight chance we might recognize his name and/or make some other connection.

Was there any other detail he told your dad at the time of purchase?

In the "At the Creation" book there is a photo of Lang with a BIG group of early Harleys c1908 in Chicago under a statue of Lincoln. Figure he sold every one of those and many more and it's no surprise he had a few things left over that nobody wanted or cared about but he may have hung onto for years and years.

Do we know if the green bike motor is a 1905 or possibly a 1906?

[HarleyCreation]

So what happened to the '04 Harley in 1926 when Mr. Lang retired. Did it stay in his business with the new owner? Did he take it with him to MI or FL? Inquiring minds need to know!

That is the KEY ($2 million) question!

Here's my hunch and that's all it is, but I have steeped myself in this early Harley stuff for years (which then propelled me back into the 1890s which you'll soon be hearing about!)

IF the Meyer-Sparough job had remained in Lang's dealership until 1926 and then stayed there after Lang sold out to Kemper, then we would KNOW of it today. That is just too late/recent for it not to be mentioned in Enthusiast or elsewhere, which we would have certainly found by now.

Therefore, I'm guessing that it left Lang's dealership (ownership?) earlier than later, possibly shortly after it was last mentioned in 1916.

But to whom, why, and where?

That's where the matter rests today....

[Earl]

What are the details surrounding the how and why and where, the last time #599 was mentioned or seen?

[HarleyCreation]

What are the details surrounding the how and why and where, the last time #599 was mentioned or seen?

First off as review: the Harley-Davidson motorcycle we know from from a 1912 photo ("Negative. 599"), aka: the "Meyer-Sparough" bike (first and last owners), is the original 1904 Harley loop-frame/big motor prototype, the first "real" Harley ever built.

The LAST mention of the bike that I know of was in a 1916 motorcycle mag article about Lang and his dealership. There it mentions the bike on display in Lang's shop at that time.

That's it!

After that little blurb it seems to fall off the face of the earth into oblivion; almost like it never existed at all!

Find that motorcycle and you've got yourself a $2 million bike and possibly more.

Was it mentioned in the motorcycle press after that time? Possibly, but if so, that info hasn't turned up yet, although we're always on the lookout and hoping....

One thing is certain. If H-D had acquired the 599 bike and put it into the Factory collection, that fact would be known today both by tradition and from unique diagnostic features only seen on the 1904 proto bike.

The bike displayed in the new H-D Museum and labeled as a "c1903" Harley isn't even close to the truth. Not even close...

There really should be an update about this bike in the Club mag by and by.

The entire historical puzzle surrounding the first proto and Harley's early years was worked out and fully documented in the landmark book: At the Creation: Myth, Reality, and the Origin of the Harley-Davidson Motorcycle, 1901-1909 (Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2003).

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whsp...sp?book_id=159

[Chris Haynes]

So, after 18 years is there anything new?

[pem]

Well, we now know that there were 2 1904 HD bikes at the motorcycle races that fall in 1904. My best guess is they were both prototypes or experimental. Neither of them could finish the race. We also know that in 1905 at the races at State Fair Park on June 2nd and 3rd that there were at least 4 production HD motorcycles. One ridden by Walter Davidson, one ridden by Perry Mack, another ridden by Meyer and one ridden by Paul Hildebrandt.(I think it was Paul) There is still no proof what so ever that HD built a production motorcycle in 1903 or 1904.

Herb is right!