autoevolution
 

Harley-Davidson Sali Is a Clean Cut Tribute to Melting Watches

For years we have journeyed through the world of custom motorcycles and have seen these two-wheeled wonders being made to honor all sorts of stuff, from real-life people to racing circuits and whatnot. But so far, we’ve never come across a custom bike being constructed as a tribute to a surrealist artist and his most famous work.
Harley-Davidson Sali 8 photos
Photo: Box39
Harley-Davidson SaliHarley-Davidson SaliHarley-Davidson SaliHarley-Davidson SaliHarley-Davidson SaliHarley-Davidson SaliHarley-Davidson Sali
For pretty much the entire duration of the last century, Spanish-born Salvador Dali dominated the art scene with his works. Estimates are the man is responsible for over 1,500 paintings and an undetermined number of illustrations for books, sculptures, and even an animated short film (storyboard), Destino, made for Disney.

Look as you might through this immense inventory of Salvador Dali creations and you’ll find nothing as famous as The Persistence of Memory. The painting, first shown in 1931, has become one of surrealism’s most recognizable works of art, one that is estimated to be worth anywhere between $50 million and $150 million.

The oil on canvas painting shows a desolate landscape adorned with a number of melting watches, and a weird creature lying there as if senseless. We’re not going to go into the meaning of it all (as with all other works of art, that meaning could be subject for debate for years), but we’ll tell you that try as we might, we couldn’t find a resemblance between this here customized 2007 Harley-Davidson Softail and The Persistence of Memory.

Yet the shop that made it, Russian Box39, claims the modified bike’s name, which is Sali, was chosen in honor of Salvador Dali, and that famous painting of his.

What we see in this mechanical work of art is a clean cut machine, with two perfectly white wheels (23-inch front and 21-inch rear, wrapped in Metzeller tires) going hand in hand with a blueish body with no unnecessary adornments.

Being one of the relatively young shop’s first bikes (it was completed in 2015), the thing boasts a number of custom-made parts created in-house. The list of changes includes the fork, fenders, covers, headlight, and exhaust system, which seem to be the only modification made mechanically to the motorcycle’s powerplant.

The cost of the build, like in the case of all other Box39 works, was not disclosed.
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
About the author: Daniel Patrascu
Daniel Patrascu profile photo

Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories