Old Harley?
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Joined: Jul 2008
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From: Buffalo, NY
Old Harley?
Can anyone tell me what year this Harley is? It's a pic of my Grandfather and his Harley that I think was taken sometime in the early 1920's Any info on the bike would be great.
Tourer
Joined: Jul 2008
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From: SWMO
Looks to be between 1921 and 1924 when compared to some of these pictures:
http://harley-davidson.oldcarandtruckpictures.com/
Great pic BTW!
http://harley-davidson.oldcarandtruckpictures.com/
Great pic BTW!
Banned
Joined: Feb 2010
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From: S.W. Wisconsin
1919 Model 20J
What you have there is a photo of a 1919 Model 20J. The forks and tank mounted toolbox narrow it down to 1919-1920. The headlight and horn have swapped mounts so that the headlight was higher. You had better lighting on the beat up European roads during WWI. The sidecar is not the factory item. The front didn't come to such a sharp point on H-D sidecars. They were more rounded in the nose.
Last edited by psycho-relic; Feb 10, 2010 at 06:48 PM.
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From: Buffalo, NY
Thanks for the help everyone. From the pics I found on the internet it seems to be newer than 1918 but older than 1924. There was a big change in Harleys before and after those years. I did find a pic of a 1934 Harley with a side car that has the same pointed front to it. But your right a lot of the ones I saw were more rounded. The pic I have was taken in Batavia, NY
Road Master
Joined: Jun 2008
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From: NW Florida
I found it in my literature it's a 1920 model. Looks just like your photo. The sidecar is factory also. You can see the handle for the entrance door in your photo.
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Joined: Feb 2010
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From: S.W. Wisconsin
Try this. These guys are hardcore sidehack buffs. I know that most of the Harleys that were shipped overseas during WWI had the sidecars mounted in Britain. What they needed were the bikes with the grunt to do the job, they already had the sidecars, and since shipping bikes with sidecars attached takes up more than twice the room, they mounted them after they hit shore. You will find lots of American pics of the bikes w/ spear-tipped cars, but when they came back to the states, they brought the cars with them.
www.sidecars.org.uk
www.sidecars.org.uk
Last edited by psycho-relic; Feb 13, 2010 at 08:56 AM.
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Joined: Jul 2008
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From: Buffalo, NY
Thanks for all the help everyone. My mom told me the pic was taken before she was born and the bike was all they had. But back then the roads weren't all that good and my grandmother fell out of the side car once to many times and she made him sell the bike and get a car. They were both Italian imagrents and his friends call him "cowboy" He must have been a real biker back then lol. My mom had a big 8' x 10" of that pic but when I asked for it she said she sent it to Harley Davidson about 20 years ago and all she had was this small one.