Photo: Mecum
Back in 1944, pretty much every single company in America was busy contributing to the war effort. That year was a particularly important one for the conflagration, with several major military developments, including Operation Overlord, or the Normandy invasion, taking place. That left little room for civilian products to be released.
Like all the others, Harley-Davidson was part of the war too. The WLA, as the two-wheeler Milwaukee developed for the Army was called, swarmed in large numbers over the world’s battlefields: some 90,000 of them were made in a very short time. Meanwhile, civilians were treated only with scraps, but ones that would grow into becoming incredible collectibles. Such as the FL.
The moniker was born in the year America joined the war, 1941, and represented bikes powered by 74ci engines of the Knucklehead variety. Naturally, until the war ended not many of them were made for civilian use, and after it, the bike in this configuration only lasted until 1948, when the Panhead engine made its entrance.
The bike we have here is part of that rare-breed of wartime machines. It was made, along with just about 171 others, in 1944, and is now a museum piece that is looking for its next owner.
The gray bike seems to be in perfect condition, having been saved and restored in 1989 by a Tacoma, Washington museum owner by the name J.C. Burgin. It seems to be packing all the right hardware, including the 74ci engine linked to a 4-speed transmission.
It goes, together with a small army of models from the same collection, during the Mecum motorcycle auction in Las Vegas in April. We’re not given an estimate as to how much it is expected to fetch, but it will probably be significantly more than the $465 ($6,950 adjusted for inflation) the bike maker was asking for it back when it made it.
The moniker was born in the year America joined the war, 1941, and represented bikes powered by 74ci engines of the Knucklehead variety. Naturally, until the war ended not many of them were made for civilian use, and after it, the bike in this configuration only lasted until 1948, when the Panhead engine made its entrance.
The bike we have here is part of that rare-breed of wartime machines. It was made, along with just about 171 others, in 1944, and is now a museum piece that is looking for its next owner.
The gray bike seems to be in perfect condition, having been saved and restored in 1989 by a Tacoma, Washington museum owner by the name J.C. Burgin. It seems to be packing all the right hardware, including the 74ci engine linked to a 4-speed transmission.
It goes, together with a small army of models from the same collection, during the Mecum motorcycle auction in Las Vegas in April. We’re not given an estimate as to how much it is expected to fetch, but it will probably be significantly more than the $465 ($6,950 adjusted for inflation) the bike maker was asking for it back when it made it.
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