Photo: Instagram / Flawless Jewellery
Perhaps one of the most famous Harley-Davidsons in the world is the Harley-Davidson Bucherer Blue Edition, which, at $1.9 million, is widely considered the most expensive in the world. But that’s not to say similarly outrageous Harleys don’t exist – we just don’t know about them.
This is the case with this gold-plated Harley that just got seized by the New South Wales Police in Australia, in a drug bust. It’s gold-plated and it’s fully custom, and it’s estimated at more than AU$2 million, which is roughly US$1.5 million at the current exchange rate. A close call to snatching the crown from the Bucherer Blue Edition.
Before we proceed, the Blue Edition was covered in an older coverstory, available at the link. Based on a 2017 Softail Slim S, it was introduced to the public in 2018 in Zurich and was a collaboration between Swiss jeweler and watchmaker Carl Bucherer, custom bike shop Bündnerbike, and Harley-Davidson. To this day, it remains one of the most excessive and pointless exercises in luxury custom work.
But this one could have come close too, if that police estimate is accurate. Not much is known about this Harley, except for the fact that it’s plated in gold, that it was done on commission by Sinistar Customs in Australia, for a client that posed as a successful jeweler. That client is Jean Wimmer of Flawless Jewellery, a man who, according to the police, was actually running a $5 million drug trafficking operation out of his home outside of Sydney.
The bike is now in police custody, along with three other expensive vehicles, a Lamborghini and three Ferraris, including the 488 Pista Wimmer would occasionally show off on social media. The gold-plated Harley also made an appearance there in November last year, shortly after he took delivery of it. Reports say he planned on offering it as a rental for weddings – a move that is understandable in retrospect: you’d want to recoup some of the money you paid for it, and wedding rentals seem like the only way in which you could do it.
Right now, Wimmer is looking at serious charges and serious time behind bars, if he’s found guilty of them. Police will be holding on to the four vehicles for a while longer and, depending on the outcome of the trial, they might be auctioned off – which means one of the world’s most expensive Harleys could go home with a new owner, on the cheap.
Before we proceed, the Blue Edition was covered in an older coverstory, available at the link. Based on a 2017 Softail Slim S, it was introduced to the public in 2018 in Zurich and was a collaboration between Swiss jeweler and watchmaker Carl Bucherer, custom bike shop Bündnerbike, and Harley-Davidson. To this day, it remains one of the most excessive and pointless exercises in luxury custom work.
But this one could have come close too, if that police estimate is accurate. Not much is known about this Harley, except for the fact that it’s plated in gold, that it was done on commission by Sinistar Customs in Australia, for a client that posed as a successful jeweler. That client is Jean Wimmer of Flawless Jewellery, a man who, according to the police, was actually running a $5 million drug trafficking operation out of his home outside of Sydney.
The bike is now in police custody, along with three other expensive vehicles, a Lamborghini and three Ferraris, including the 488 Pista Wimmer would occasionally show off on social media. The gold-plated Harley also made an appearance there in November last year, shortly after he took delivery of it. Reports say he planned on offering it as a rental for weddings – a move that is understandable in retrospect: you’d want to recoup some of the money you paid for it, and wedding rentals seem like the only way in which you could do it.
Right now, Wimmer is looking at serious charges and serious time behind bars, if he’s found guilty of them. Police will be holding on to the four vehicles for a while longer and, depending on the outcome of the trial, they might be auctioned off – which means one of the world’s most expensive Harleys could go home with a new owner, on the cheap.
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