1931 Harley-Davidson V-Series Is One Amazing Barn Find
The weathered, patina’d look is all the rage these days. Which makes this crusty Harley-Davidson V-Series quite the find!
There was a time, not too long ago, when people turned their noses up at dirt and surface rust. Old, battered barn finds were fully restored before being shown to the public. Today, we’ve experienced a complete 180 in the collector market. Crusty cars and motorcycles are celebrated like pieces of abstract art. Heck, merely washing them is a sin, akin to erasing history. And in that regard, this 1931 Harley-Davidson V-Series is a truly historic find.
We spotted the crusty barn find over on eBay recently, where it emerged after many years in storage. The seller located this special bike in upstate New York, where it was still in the possession of the original owner’s family. As rough as it looks on the surface, this Harley-Davidson V-Series is actually pretty intact, all things considered. Though the owner admits there is some work to be done to get it road-worthy.
The good news is, the motor spins freely, so as does the transmission. The frame is straight, and most of the rust appears to be of the surface kind. Heck, we doubt, given today’s environment, that the new owner will bother trying to restore this bike’s sheen, anyway. Most people these days actually prefer the rustic look, and we can’t really blame them.
Still, it was way back in 1951 the last time this Harley-Davidson V-Series was registered. The left side tank is pretty rusty, and the right side is reported to be most likely “unusable.” But it might not take too much wrenching to get this cool old ride roadworthy once again. And whoever takes on that project will have one of the coolest patina’d cruisers around!
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