‘Harley and the Davidsons’ Bike Builder Had Never Owned a Motorcycle

By Tony Markovich - September 2, 2016

There’s a huge different between a Hollywood set builder and a true motorcycle builder. That’s never been more clear than on the set of Discovery Channel’s upcoming mini-series Harley and the Davidsons.

For this three-part project, Discover knew that it’d be impossible to round up dozens of authentic motorcycles, and of course, they’d be far too valuable and fragile to actually use in filming, so they decided to build them all specially for the show. And for that, they turned to South African special effects and metal specialists Apocalypse Production, which is headed by none other than build master Alex Wheeler.

Hemmings recently had the chance to interview Wheeler by phone, and one of the most interesting bits from the talk was that Wheeler had actually never owned a motorcycle before this project. He now owns a 1930 Harley-Davidson VL, but before that, nothin’.

That might make it seem like a strange move for Discovery to hire him, but Wheeler is no amateur. He has 17 art department credits on IMDB, and it’s not the first time he’s built vehicles before. For this show, he and his crew had to construct about 80 different bikes, many of which were eventually smashed, but that didn’t stop him from making sure everything was true to the originals.

“All of the bikes, regardless of exterior paint scheme or brand name, were built by our staff in South Africa and shipped to the various filming locations,” Wheeler told Hemmings. “Engines and transmissions were built in mass and fitted into the frames. We created several period-correct appearing bikes for Indian and several other brand names as well. All of the engines were built with the advantage of modern electronic ignition, modern carburetion and a few tricks engine builders have learned over the past century. However, they still retain the classic intake over exhaust configuration of the valve train, along with the exposed valve springs used on the original engines.”