Does anyone know for sure what font Harley used when stamping the crankcase with the VIN? I have something that looks like a Century or Times New Roman (similar but not exact), and AI said they used a San Serif Block style

Any clues?

 

Post up a partial pic of what you have and there are folks that can help you out.

There is also this website that has a pretty decent amount of VIN numbers thru the years. Go to the album titled 'Case Numbers'

https://www.vintageamericanmotorcycles.com/main.php

 

FWIW, the font is unique to VINs, and there's a lot of little detail variations throughout the years, like straight or curved backs on 6s and 9s, open or closed 4s, serifs or not on 2s and 7s, etc. If you're trying to figure out if your case is a restamp, post it and ask Speeding Big Twin to evaluate.

 

What year though?

I have a 2008 Sportster and the engine number is a dot matrix.

 

Putting my neck out here but attached is a partial of what's on the bike. It looks genuine since it's not been ground down, and the finish on the casting is the same everywhere.

 

In your serial number (SN) the first five characters are not consistent with factory stamping for a 54FLE. Compare yours with the example below.





However your 5, 4, F, L and E are similar types to what H-D used at certain earlier times.
For example notice the end of the curved section on your 5 comes back in.
Notice your 4 has a closed top. Notice its main horizontal stroke extends a lot further to the right than the serif does.
Notice all your letters are heavily seriffed.
All the abovementioned features are found on certain stamps used at the factory in certain earlier periods. And they may even help suggest your left case may have been a replacement and its SN may have been stamped by a Harley dealer who used H-D stamps from certain earlier times.

As for your 2, its serif looks a bit too tall/long for a 54 Pan SN and it may be another H-D character from an earlier period.

I notice your ‘VIN Font’ document says 54FLE2631? But your second sequence character doesn’t appear to be 6 and instead it may be 1? If so, what does its top look like?

Also notice your SN boss appears to have blemishes below some of the characters and you’ll see similar blemishes in my example. Can you tell us if your SN boss has blemishes or not please. Not all 54 Pans have those blemishes but a lot do and they appear to be flaws in the casting.

What are the belly numbers (BNs)? They should be visible even if the crankcase guard is present and they may be formatted as per the following example: 154-1234. Photos of both BNs would help.

Also look on top of the cases near the rear mounting bolts. Often a 54 Pan would have a certain type of 7 stamped there but replacement cases for 54 may not have had them. Anyway, regardless of whether you find something there or not, can you post a photo of that area of both cases please.

Regarding the VAM website, over the years I’ve said many times that extreme caution should be used when viewing case numbers there. One of the people who runs that site is Chris Haynes and according to him all the examples of case numbers that are not good are identified as such. But that is NOT true.
Over ten years ago, on the now-defunct CAImag forum, I provided reasons why I thought six VAM case numbers in particular were not consistent with factory stamping. Two of them were 53FL1385 and 67FLH8+++ and my comments resulted in Chris changing his mind about both those SNs and he then changed their status on VAM. In other words he had agreed with my findings.

But he didn’t change the status of the other four SNs I commented on even though I provided reasons why they did not appear consistent with factory stamping. And as well as those other four SNs there are several more case numbers on VAM that need to be addressed. In fact in March last year on the AMCA forum I suggested Chris start a new thread if he wanted to go through them. But I received no response.
Eric

 

Wow.. that is some impressive detailed knowledge.

 

Eric for the win, always the go to guy for this conversation.

Belly numbers would help the conversation, do they match?

If you do not want your numbers on the Net, I get it, I strongly recommend a direct message to Speeding Big Twin, Eric is the expert in my opinion for this kind of research, good luck.

 

I think I'll stop here with the analysis. Thanks to all for the input. Everything Eric said tells me two things: 1, it's not exact, and 2, it's not an exact science. It's possible its original, but not likely. May be from a repair/replacement during the life of the bike. That's good enough for my purposes. Although I'll go forward with Eric in a private manner if possible so we can come to a pseudo conclusion. Just information that's good to know.

This is what I know about the bike:
The bike was originally issued to the Pittsburg Police. How long they ran it is not clear. It was purchased by a gentleman in Pittsburg who chopped it and ran it for many years. Finally started putting it back to original condition (or as close as possible) and the guy who did it for him seemed to take some shortcuts. Used a lot of aftermarket parts, but all seems to be quality parts, so no problem with the way he did it. He ended up selling it to #1 Cycle in Center Hall, PA, which is where I purchased it from. It was still titled in the second owners name when I got it. I've just been doing a couple of aesthetic things, nothing to detract from the bikes age. It does have the 50 Yr Anniversary emblem on the front fender, which again, may or may not be original. Hard to tell.

So I'm going to call it "rebuilt with period correct modifications". I think that's accurate, and it's still special.

I've got an '03 RKC Anniversary edition to go with the above. That's the extent of my "collection". Both are fun to ride around town.

Eric, I'll reply to your questions when I get a chance to do some investigating.

 

Over the years we’ve heard stories about how much info is still available from the factory and there has been mention of a fire destroying certain records but some say the fire was not in the Service Department (SD) which was where the list of SNs and BNs may have been kept? There are also stories about records being destroyed for years prior to 58, or prior to 59, or prior to 62 or prior to 73. But another story says records for 54 were kept due to it being an anniversary year? Anyway, if you’re interested you could write a letter addressed to the SD and hand it to your local dealer and ask said dealer to forward your letter to H-D but to make sure it goes to the SD.

Frame: stamped on the R-H side of your frame top engine mount you may find a date code consisting of a letter and a number but not necessarily in that order. Letter indicates month of manufacture and number indicates year. Apparently there were at least three frames for 54 Pans and info about when at least one of the changes occurred is said to be on a certain factory drawing but I have not been able to get a copy. Bruce Palmer has the drawing and I emailed him several times, even offering to pay in advance for a copy but I received no response.

I rang H-D and the person I spoke to later emailed me and said the archives told him no info on 54 frame changes. Later I contacted another person at H-D who said no literature but because his email reply was so short I tried again. His second response was much longer but unfriendly. He said changes were not documented and he said he told Palmer the same thing. But that made no sense because Palmer has the drawing and he says it explains when certain frame changes occurred for 54 models.

In more recent years I’ve been running a wanted ad in The Antique Motorcycle but I am still unable to find a copy of the drawing.

I replied to your PM.
Eric