Which bike does this Harley single go into?

[edgemont]

It’s the latest edition. I appreciate the effort and dedication it must’ve taken to write that book. And I really appreciate the gurus on this forum who help cross referencing everything in it.

I handed my wife a cylinder with a knuck head on it yesterday and asked if she could ID it with the book and google. She’s still working on it, and she ain’t no dummy.

[Speeding Big Twin]

Sounds like you have one of the books with front cover spanning 1937–64. Regardless of first edition or second edition, I advise extreme caution concerning SN info in that book because there are problems. And that book also contains problems relating to belly number info.
Eric

[edgemont]

I can’t see anything wrong with your SN. All characters appear usual factory types for 1933. I’ve seen that 3 in SNs from about mid-1924–1934. Also notice the style of G and C. You’ll see these characters in the magazine article I mentioned. BTW, if you can’t locate that article let me know and I’ll send you a copy via PM or email.

Casting ID of 2–29 is what I’d expect. Diagonally across from 2–29 you may find a cast-in 1 or 2. Also on that case you may find another casting mark but I’m not sure what it represents.

You have a book that helps ID the number style on later VINs? What years does it cover? Can you name the title and author please. Where can I buy a copy? Thanks.
Eric

Thanks Eric, I took a look and I must have been thinking of the book; how to restore your Harley Davidson” by Bruce Palmer. I found some info about number styles and how to possibly spot a fake. Not very in depth but more than I knew before reading.

[Speeding Big Twin]

I have a book that helps ID the number style on later VINs, but not on these.

I can’t see anything wrong with your SN. All characters appear usual factory types for 1933. I’ve seen that 3 in SNs from about mid-1924–1934. Also notice the style of G and C. You’ll see these characters in the magazine article I mentioned. BTW, if you can’t locate that article let me know and I’ll send you a copy via PM or email.

Casting ID of 2–29 is what I’d expect. Diagonally across from 2–29 you may find a cast-in 1 or 2. Also on that case you may find another casting mark but I’m not sure what it represents.

You have a book that helps ID the number style on later VINs? What years does it cover? Can you name the title and author please. Where can I buy a copy? Thanks.
Eric

[edgemont]

So thirty plus Harley single motors going into commercial lawnmowers in 1933 sounds about right... It's hard for us today to realise how tough it was in the Great Depression. Harley were down to a two day week and losing money, with list prices of bikes cut a couple of times in the previous model years. What a year to launch the 33VLD as a premium priced sport model! Check out the movie 'Gold Diggers of 1933' and the song 'The Forgotten Man' for a flavour, it shows young WW1 veterans selling apples on the street corners. It all changed with Franklin D Roosevelt's inauguration in January 1933 and the New Deal. The 1934 model launch Enthusiast is full of optimism and purple advertising prose.

And I agree any VCR would have all three letters in the engine number. We have the surviving one of one 34RLDX made for Germany and it has all four letters in the engine number.

Thanks for the history and explanation. I have a book that helps ID the number style on later VINs, but not on these. Here’s my VIN boss. I was masking the number back when I thought it went to a bike out of habit..

5EF6636B-A2DD-4BA0-A9C2-88B765A48837.jpg

[edgemont]

Cheers edgemont. In the March-April 2017 issue of The Antique Motorcycle there are photos of a 33GC with serial number close to yours. It is 1023. I don’t know how many GCs were built though.
Eric

Hey, great lead Eric. I’ll look in the article.

[Steve Slocombe]

So thirty plus Harley single motors going into commercial lawnmowers in 1933 sounds about right... It's hard for us today to realise how tough it was in the Great Depression. Harley were down to a two day week and losing money, with list prices of bikes cut a couple of times in the previous model years. What a year to launch the 33VLD as a premium priced sport model! Check out the movie 'Gold Diggers of 1933' and the song 'The Forgotten Man' for a flavour, it shows young WW1 veterans selling apples on the street corners. It all changed with Franklin D Roosevelt's inauguration in January 1933 and the New Deal. The 1934 model launch Enthusiast is full of optimism and purple advertising prose.

And I agree any VCR would have all three letters in the engine number. We have the surviving one of one 34RLDX made for Germany and it has all four letters in the engine number.

[Speeding Big Twin]

Cheers edgemont. In the March-April 2017 issue of The Antique Motorcycle there are photos of a 33GC with serial number close to yours. It is 1023. I don’t know how many GCs were built though.
Eric

[Speeding Big Twin]

Thanks Steve. I have Hatfield’s book but I too have never seen a VCR in person.

In The Legend Begins, production figures and model descriptions on pages 199-higher are often unreliable and the book itself says the info on those pages is not to be regarded as totally accurate.

I don’t think 33VCR cases were just stamped VC. According to the model layout sheet I posted above, the 33VCR had all three letters in the motor number.
The 31 layout sheet I have says a similar thing for the 31VCR: all three letters were in the motor number.
Eric

[rwm]

What you have is a lawn mower motor. If you look at the Indian single water pump. you may find it was also used as a lawn mower motor. worthington used Indian motors before switching to Harley

[edgemont]

Great info guys. The VIN boss 33GC103# looks authentic and unaltered. Belly number as well.

[Steve Slocombe]

Just an opinion, as we know some of the export R models were not produced. The VCR is shown in Jerry Hatfield's 'Inside Harley-Davidson' for 1930-31 as a curiosity, but I've never seen one. It had a 60 tooth rear sprocket not the regular 51, and wasn't the sidecar on the other side? And who would be marking roads with new equipment in the worst year of the Great Depression? The Harley 'Legend Begins' shows no VCR production for 1933, but maybe they were like the VDS with the S for sidecar very rarely stamped, so that any surviving crankcases would just be stamped 33VC. My VL book is now in the sixth edition, but the VCR info remains the same, maybe it needs a footnote.

And interesting to see the new sporty 33VLD was fitted with the 25 tooth drive sprocket as standard. No wonder it did 104 mph on Muroc dry lake.

[Speeding Big Twin]

The table looks slightly theoretical, as I doubt any VCR road markers were actually produced that year

Steve, I’m interested in why you doubt any VCRs were produced for 1933. Apart from being listed on the layout sheet above, the 1933 VCR is mentioned on the page below.






Also, I have the revised fourth edition of your book on the 30–36 V-series and page 14 says the VCR was made for 31–33. Thanks.
Eric

[Steve Slocombe]

1933 model year for Harley was at the depth of the Depression, with production back to 1910/11 levels. They were really scratching to get turnover, and you occasionally see stationary engines from this period. My guess is that most of the singles were built up from existing stock, with single cylinder bike production finishing in 1934. The table looks slightly theoretical, as I doubt any VCR road markers were actually produced that year, nor RLDEX models . I also have a suspicion the VL models with magnesium pistons were using up left over stock from the first 2000 VLs, where customers complained they were noisy and pistons were replaced with cast iron, among other changes. A 33GC is a great find - I bet it has a low serial number. The Harley 'Legend Begins' book shows no such model or production numbers, presumably because they were sold as components to another manufacturer.

[Speeding Big Twin]

Model 33GC was made for the Worthington Mower Company and it is listed on the Model Layout Sheet below. What does the serial number look like? Does it appear authentic?
Eric