Your argument is based in false assumptions…Harley Davidson did not buy the company Road Works that invented the frame design. They didn’t inherit anything you mention above except the rights to use the patent. Harley engineering then further iterated on the design as defined in the patent, made and tested prototypes and ultimately released the Softail frame. The frames sold by Road Works had nothing to do with Harley Davidson as a business.

It doesn’t matter to me one way or the other on this particular bike. I just think its marketing BS to hype the sale. I would be proud to own it and I would absolutely hype it myself if I did own it. There are collectors who have more money than they know what to do with and they will pay for this sort of folklore marketing BS. Its all good…

 

So, Harley-Davidson did not buy out "Road Works" in its entirety. They only bought patent rights and changed the name to "Softail". Got it. I stand corrected. When I posted this listing almost 2 weeks ago, I never imagined the journey through minutiae we would all be taking. lol!
I still do consider it a "prototype" being correct as listed. Harley-Davidson does. Road Works does. Mecum Auctions does. I think we all should. There will always be a few offended puritan holdouts! As the history around us all gets ever more distant in the rear-view mirror, it's good to have the HDF collective to keep us righteous, because no one really knows it all. (Some here may argue that they do!) The collective mind is always greater than the sum of all its parts.
This is an important piece of the Harley-Davidson saga. Interesting, Rare and only a few still exist. I will be attending the auction, or at least viewing it online if I am not there that day. I dont expect to bid on it. There are quite a few other interesting bikes crossing the block that week.

 

I apologize if my posts are rude or inconsiderate in any way. I consider all of this friendly ‘watering hole’ talk that I would have sitting at a bar with fellow riders. I am certainly not offended in any way and actually enjoyed your original post and link to the auction. I would really love to own a Shovelhead…and this one would be a fun piece to own. But I know it will sell at a premium to someone and I am not willing to pay a premium because of it’s history. Regardless, you have peaked my interest and now looking forward to seeing what it sells for. My guess is $20,000. Care to take a guess?

 

Honestly, 20K seems really low to me. Any original shovelhead or custom shovelhead for that matter seems to be approaching that price I'll go closer to 45-50 K but that's just a guess and may be more of an appraisal...the bike is well storied, and it will depend on the money in the room that day.

Anyone else care to hazard a guess???

 

yeah, i am probably out of touch with prices and I know these auctions pull in collectors and big money. These are not typical ‘wholesale’ car auctions.

 

It's anybody's guess until the auction hammer drops. Mecum doesn't put out an estimate like Barrett Jackson and some other auction houses do. I'm interested to see if the economy woes are going to have an influence on these collectors' motorcycles. There are 15 or more entire collections appearing in this auction. We may see some low prices while collectors are trying to liquidate. That's the perfect time for people like me to jump in. I for one will be checking the "newer lots" on a daily basis I really dont need another bike, but that won't stop me from looking.

 

Interesting excerpt quote found online...

"Harley executive Jeff Bleustein – who later became the company President & CEO – immediately contacted Davis and made him an offer to sell to H-D all his patents, prototypes, jigs and tooling."

Did You Know? The Story Of The Harley-Davidson Softail Frame. at Cyril Huze Post – Custom Motorcycle News (cyrilhuzeblog.com)

 

A pristine 1967 FLH is $22k to about $30k, as you all know, the more original the better. Original paint is all the rage right now.

A really nice 1967 Shovel custom/chopper would be hard pressed to break $20k.

So now it all goes back to the story, what you believe and if it makes you keep raising your hand.

It will be all about who is in the room and who needs it.

 

this is inconsistent with several Harley history books and inconsistent with even the auction article you posted. Several different sources state they licensed the patent and paid a royalty for each unit sold until the lifetime cap was hit. Unfortunately, the cap was hit and apparently was way too low as the Softail success was way beyond expectations. Mr. Davis was not made rich on this deal and couldn’t even retire as a result.

Another piece of folklore…Harley didn’t immediately make an offer. From the time he first reached out to Harley until they got serious and started negotiations was months. They were cash strapped and concentrating on other engineering challenges…like finishing the Evo.

 

I found it on the internet. Thought it was interesting. Take it with a grain of salt. As a poster and reader, I assume no credibility for any piece if information glommed off the internet. This forum included. Let the reader beware....
Aint technology great???