Photo U Model Navy Harley-Davidson

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hognfrog1
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Photo U Model Navy Harley-Davidson

Post by hognfrog1 » Mon May 11, 2009 11:14 am

I took this photo last year at the Harley-Davidson Museum.
1 0f 40 produced in that year.
Image
Last edited by hognfrog1 on Sat Jun 13, 2009 5:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
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chris haynes
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Re: Photo U Model Navy Harley-Davidson

Post by chris haynes » Wed May 13, 2009 11:36 am

One of 40 what? It appears to be a UA painted gray. They made thousands of U models for the military during WWII. Someone had added WLA lighting to it.
Don't believe everything you see or hear in the H-D museum. They are passing off a 1905 model as the first Harley.
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Mark Tombleson
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Re: Photo U Model Navy Harley-Davidson

Post by Mark Tombleson » Wed May 13, 2009 2:19 pm

Lets not get pushed out of shape here.

It is a nice looking Navy gray HD... a photo he took last year, so the OP may know no more than what he was told.

Knowing that and knowing the Navy had contracts for lots of weird stuff, why don't we see if someone can enlighten us a bit on what, if any, contracts HD had with the Navy.

My jeep was one of 590 USN marked radio jeeps contracted for by the Navy so having a specialty contract from them is very possible.
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hognfrog1
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Re: Photo U Model Navy Harley-Davidson

Post by hognfrog1 » Wed May 13, 2009 2:34 pm

I posted the photo of the U model Navy H-D.
The information was taken from the plaque in front of motorcycle.

I work part time at the Harley-Museum so I can take some more photo's if desired. I will be limited by distance (about 2-3 ft) and by which side is facing the aisle. In other words I can't enter the display but will be willing to take photo's of certain things/parts that are visable.

The WLA on display is visable from both sides and it is a unrestored motorcycle. The XA is visable on the left side (as sitting on the bike) it is also unrestored.
XS is visable from the right side (sidecar in on the right side) The XS is a restored vehicle. The parts from the other 2 prototypes were used to complete the one on display.
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Re: Photo U Model Navy Harley-Davidson

Post by hognfrog1 » Wed May 13, 2009 2:43 pm

They are passing off a 1905 model as the first Harley
The plaque in front of serial number one clearly states the motorcycle has been through several restorations and that the frame is probably a 1905. While doing the last restoration in 1998 while the engine was apart it was discovered that there were several parts with the number 1 cast into them. It is stated that this is the oldest known Harley-Davidson to exist but that its real idenity is not certain due to the several restorations it has been through.
So it is "Circa 1903" and refered to as serial number 1 rather than a 1903 H-D.
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Re: Photo U Model Navy Harley-Davidson

Post by hognfrog1 » Thu May 14, 2009 9:44 pm

Here are a couple of more photo's of some information on the "U" model Navy Harley-Davidson
First is the Tank Tag.
Image

Second is the placard in front of the display.

Image
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Re: Photo U Model Navy Harley-Davidson

Post by chris haynes » Sun May 24, 2009 5:24 pm

hognfrog1 wrote:
They are passing off a 1905 model as the first Harley
The plaque in front of serial number one clearly states the motorcycle has been through several restorations and that the frame is probably a 1905. While doing the last restoration in 1998 while the engine was apart it was discovered that there were several parts with the number 1 cast into them. It is stated that this is the oldest known Harley-Davidson to exist but that its real idenity is not certain due to the several restorations it has been through.
So it is "Circa 1903" and refered to as serial number 1 rather than a 1903 H-D.

It is neither a 1903 or number 1. The actual number 1 machine was built in 1904, not 1903. It is known by the MoCo as the Meyers/Sparough bike. It passed through three owners before being purchased by Harley-Davidson Board Of Directors member Charles Lang. C. H. Lang, as he was known, was the very first Harley-Davidson dealer, located in Chicago. When he purchased the bike from Steven Sparough in 1912 he put it on display in his Chicago dealership. The real number 1 is different from the 1905 model the MoCo has in many ways.
Here is a photo of the real number 1 as it appeared with Steven Sparough in 1912.
Image
1952 Ford U S NAVY Communications step van.
1967 Harley-Davidson XLA

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Re: Photo U Model Navy Harley-Davidson

Post by chris haynes » Sun May 24, 2009 5:28 pm

hognfrog1 wrote: Image
The claim of 88,000 units for the military is also a pipe dream. Check Palmers book for the true figures that he obtained from the National Archives. More like 67,000.
1952 Ford U S NAVY Communications step van.
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Re: Photo U Model Navy Harley-Davidson

Post by chris haynes » Wed Sep 09, 2009 3:17 pm

There is a photo of an actual U S Navy OHV machine on page 143 of Palmer's book.
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Re: Photo U Model Navy Harley-Davidson

Post by John Neuenburg » Fri Sep 11, 2009 8:34 pm

Mark Tombleson wrote:Lets not get pushed out of shape here.

It is a nice looking Navy gray HD... a photo he took last year, so the OP may know no more than what he was told.

Knowing that and knowing the Navy had contracts for lots of weird stuff, why don't we see if someone can enlighten us a bit on what, if any, contracts HD had with the Navy.

My jeep was one of 590 USN marked radio jeeps contracted for by the Navy so having a specialty contract from them is very possible.
Jeeps are for pussies. Radio jeeps are for nerd pussies.
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Mark Tombleson
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Re: Photo U Model Navy Harley-Davidson

Post by Mark Tombleson » Sat Sep 12, 2009 8:54 pm

Real men drive radio jeeps! :shock:

Pussies wear berets. :P

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