You're right, I see the speedo drive, but you never can tell with HD literature. For instance, read the text under the picture on page 8 above: "...the picture has been highly modified." LOL HD was into "photoshopping" before photoshopping was cool.

 

Wow, you guys nailed it, well done gents.

I was just going to say a VL and be on my way.

 

One thing is certain: It's a 193X VL .

 

Are you saying the small cases for the 1930 V-series had a number boss? And I’ll come back to that below.

Those pages look like they’re from the 37–64 FE and it’s one of the books I have a copy of. But those pages don’t help because they have problems and I told Palmer about them and other problems in his books via email in 2012.

For example page 6 says: ‘The first two characters are numbers, followed by two or three letter characters …’
Followed by two or three letters? What about SNs with only one letter and SNs with more than three letters? Will people think those SNs are fake because the amount of letters contradicts Palmer?

Page 6 says: ‘For the years we are dealing with …’
But does that mean 37–64 as per the front cover? Or does it mean 20–69 because page 6 has that span and it says all 20–69 H-D numbers follow the same pattern which is wrong anyway because all 20–69 H-D numbers do not follow the same pattern.

Page 8 says: ‘The numbers should be uniform. That is, fairly straight and evenly spaced.’
The truth is that some SNs, even authentic-looking ones, are not always fairly straight. And they are not always evenly spaced.

Page 8 also has a few other problems that may lead some people to think their SN is fake when in fact it may be okay.

Getting back to the number boss, page 7 says: ‘If the boss is missing …’
But the cases rocketnorton asked about are the small 1930 V-series cases so I don’t think that info will help him. Many years ago Steve Slocombe wrote an article about the two types of 1930 cases and one of the differences he pointed out was that the small left case had no number boss. And therefore I would of course expect it to be missing.

But what if someone added a number boss to the cases rocketnorton asked about? Maybe he’ll then think everything is fine because Palmer referred to a number boss. But of course it won’t be fine.

Page 7 also refers to a timing plug hole. But there was no timing plug hole on the 1930 V-series left case regardless of small case or big case.
Eric

 

After Palmer’s 37–64 FE (1994) was printed it seems he changed his mind somewhat about the page-8 photo. In his 37–64 SE (2014) he again said it was a touched-up photograph but by then he had scrapped his mention of it being so highly modified. Therefore we have to ask how modified the bike really was. Why did Palmer say ‘so highly modified’ in his FE but not in his SE?

Anyway, regarding the photo of the 34 that I posted from Hatfield’s book, are you inferring that the photo is modified and that the speedo cable was not on the R-H side for 34? If you still think the speedo cable was not on the R-H side for 34 then I’d like to see your evidence please.
Eric

 

I stand by my previous posts which means I still think it may be a 1931. As I mentioned above it does indeed appear to be a V-series machine but is it a VL? Nobody knows. Again it’s impossible to tell exactly what model it is without knowing the engine serial number. For 1931 there were several V-series models available, not just the VL.

And yes I realise a lot of people call all V-series machines a VL but in this instance that description won’t help the OP.
Eric

 

I'm going to try to be at Maggie Valley this Sunday when the Cannonball stops for lunch, and later at Maryville. I haven't looked at the competitor list, but there may be a few VL's running in it. I am really interested in purchasing a '33, so that it would be eligible if I ever got a team together and got selected. Riding a VL in the Cannonball - wouldn't that be a hoot?

 

Please post up pictures from the Cannonball stop if you get the time, thanks. Definitely VL's out there.

 

I’ve read that it was not uncommon for riders to “freshen up” their older bikes by updating them to later paint schemes and tank decals back in the day. That’s possibly what happened here.