Opinions on 42 Harley WLA

[Shadez1460]

First off let me say I tried multiple times posting in technical forum, under flatheads. I cannot get it to work. I hope it is okay to post here and get opinions from experienced members.
I have been wanting a 42 WLA for a while now, and I found one or at least I hope I did. The story is this - Original owner patrolled Germany at the end of the war. It was brought back after the war in 1948, civilianized and repainted in 1959- rode until the late 70's and parked. Guy passed away family kept it there until recently. So basically the GI stayed with his bike for a number of years. Whether thats what really happened who knows...

Looking at the bike- Theres some obvious things that were changed around and replaced. The seat, lights, paint job... the engine number seems to check out as a military vin #, the crank case number seems to check out.
Bike runs great, no rust/cancer issues. The title is literally the original title in 48.

For those experienced - aside from being civilianized does anything look completely off or any red flags? Any help would be appreciated thank you all!

[Shadez1460]

IMG_1524.jpgIMG_1525.jpgIMG_1526.jpg here are more photos thank you all

[MMasa]

I'm in no way an expert on WLA's or even 45's in general. The one thing that caught my eye was the speedometer.
It's a 1947 only speedo, but that's not all that bad. A 1947 speedo is worth about 50% more than the 41-46 style that is correct. My point is that you could probably end up with the correct speedo PLUS some extra cash.
Mark

[craig (DE)]

As far as "civilianized", your bike still has the military fenders and a few other items most people change to give it a more civilian look. The good thing is, if you ever take it back to the WLA model, you have a great start!

[ihrescue]

Hi Shadez1460 - not a problem to post here it the very general topic forum and I can copy and post this in the Flathead forum. Sorry for the trouble. Do me a favor and send me an email and let me know if you received any error message when you were denied. Anytime you have a problem just email me at mikelove44@gmail.com and we'll see what we can do. If you posted here you should have been able to post to the Flathead Forum as all processes are the same. One thing to check if you run into that problem is to check in the upper right corner of the Forum screen to see if you are still logged in. If you are logged in there will be a tab that says "Log Out." If you are not logged in there will be a tab that says "Register." This is one of the more frequent problems with posting especially if you just had a successful post go through. [Edit - note I duplicated and included this post in the Flathead Forum so you will need to look there for discussion as well.]

Mike Love
AMCA Forum
Moderator
mikelove44@gmail.com

[ihrescue]

I am completely unqualified to talk about the WLA and 45's in general except to say I look at them and like them a lot. Mark Masa made a good point about value and if you are looking to restore it to its OEM condition that later age speedo could be of value in obtaining parts at a great rate due to its value. Something to think about it as an asset. The other thing is maybe the previous owner's survivors still have some parts they don't relize were removed from the bike. Also this is a really cool story.

Mike Love

[Steve Slocombe]

The military guys can get really hard core about originality if you want to restore it this way. As well as factory engine numbers, I would also check e.g the headstock forging die number to make sure it is the same year as the motor.

[ammorest]

If you don't have it already, I suggest you get a copy of Bruce Palmer's book "How To Restore Your Military Harley-Davidson". Order from Bruce at DPPUBLICATIONS@VERIZON.NET Ad on page 50 in the January/February issue of the club magazine.
Dave