1908 Harley sidecar

Just looking at the latest issue of the AACA and there is a picture of an 08 strap tank HD with a factory built sidecar for hauling animals around! Surely this must be the very first Harley factory built sidecar?

[aka HAWG]

barry please post picture - not all of us get the aaca

aka HAWG

1914 excelsior belt drive single
1940 indian chief military
1965 xlch sportster
1971 bas chopper

[c.o.]

No kidding, if you got a minute Barry, it would be great to see that bike!

[Barry Brown]

[c.o.]

That's a pretty cool pic Barry. Have you got a copy of Herb's "At The Creation"? There's a pic of Arthur Davidson with a passenger in a sidecar. It is estimated that the machine is an '06. Pretty cool rig. Are you gettin' some of that bad weather I hear is happening out east?

[Eric]

1908 sidecar

Here a good picture that i find on web.
Beautiful sidecar !!!
Sorry we can't put big picture

[HarleyCreation]

Here a good picture that i find on web.
Beautiful sidecar !!!
Sorry we can't put big picture

That photo is a beauty! Wish I'd of had that one for the Creation book. It's a super nice illustration of the early pre-1910 sidecar push that died out pretty much until returning in a big way around 1915. I wonder if that photo was taken around Milwaukee?

At first I thought the bike might be a late 07, but it's got the longer fender like an 08. It's hard to make out the fork type exactly. What do you guys think?

[Eric]

Hello
Here information from the owner of picture :
Am sorry that I don't have more to tell you...
I think the Harley is a 1909 "Silent Grey Gentleman" but am not sure... I could find no information about the sidecar, as none of the Harley websites mentions a wicker sidecar. It was not uncommon at that time, for carriage makers to build specialty items, and this may have been a one of a kind.
The picture had to be taken in 1911, when my mother (the baby) looks to have been about 7 months old.
It was taken in Lonsdale, Rhode Island, USA where the family lived at the time, and I think that I knew the house, and remember the shed in the background... a place near where my grandparents lived when I was a child.. My mom was the first child of 5, and my aunt is the only living member at age 88... My grandfather (Tom Miller) was a machinist by trade, and was a "car" person all his life.
The picture was found in an old trunk in upstate New York, a few years ago, by a distant relative who sent it to my Aunt.
It's the only picture that I have of my Grandfather and Grandmother together, and I think they were both quite handsome and certainly looked proud of the Harley, don't you think?
That's about as much as I can tell you, and most of it is not about the Harley...

Beautiful history !!!!

[c.o.]

That's a great story Eric! Now if you only knew where that bike was!

[c.o.]

Here's the pic I was referring to.......

[HarleyCreation]

Hello
Here information from the owner of picture :
Am sorry that I don't have more to tell you...
I think the Harley is a 1909 "Silent Grey Gentleman" but am not sure... I could find no information about the sidecar, as none of the Harley websites mentions a wicker sidecar. It was not uncommon at that time, for carriage makers to build specialty items, and this may have been a one of a kind.
The picture had to be taken in 1911, when my mother (the baby) looks to have been about 7 months old.
It was taken in Lonsdale, Rhode Island, USA where the family lived at the time, and I think that I knew the house, and remember the shed in the background... a place near where my grandparents lived when I was a child.. My mom was the first child of 5, and my aunt is the only living member at age 88... My grandfather (Tom Miller) was a machinist by trade, and was a "car" person all his life.
The picture was found in an old trunk in upstate New York, a few years ago, by a distant relative who sent it to my Aunt.
It's the only picture that I have of my Grandfather and Grandmother together, and I think they were both quite handsome and certainly looked proud of the Harley, don't you think?
That's about as much as I can tell you, and most of it is not about the Harley...

Beautiful history !!!!

Thanks for the good info.

But I think the owner of the photo is wrong about the year of the bike being 1909. From the exhaust pipe and gas tank it appears to be a 1908 model. The 1909 model got a major overhaul with visible differences of those pieces. Being a 1908 makes it the last year of the strap-tank models and thus more rare and desireable, as a bike or as a photo. Plus these early wicker sidecar photos are rather rare. Very historic and cool photo!

I like that: Silent Gray Gentleman!