Although a Harley-Davidson did not break into the top ten sales at the Mecum Motorcycle Auction in Las Vegas at the South Point Hotel & Casino this past January 25-28, there were some that came pretty close. One of my favorite early Harleys, a lovely 1928 Harley-Davidson JDH, known as the first year of the rare 2 cam race engine that released to the public for pedestrian use cranked up a bid of $80K. Nice. The legend behind this bike was that it would hit almost 100mph right off the showroom floor and was one of the fastest bikes available in the world at the time. Harley supposedly even had it outlawed (the first “outlaw” bike?) in favor of its new Knucklehead model which was not quite the same factory hot rod. Sounds like it was the Hemi ‘cuda of its day.
Everybody loves a Knucklehead, though, even if it caused the 2 cam JDH to become the first outlaw bike. It’s old, it’s new, it’s timelessly beautiful. Here are a few that caught my eye with a range of prices to give you an idea of what to expect. There were Knucks selling for less than my picks so don’t be turned off to the idea of owning one. Strangely, a red and white scallop 1947 H-D TT Knucklehead bobber really caught my eye at $28k and is a pretty nice take of a post-WWII hot rod bobber. What appeared to be a fresh coat of beautiful blue on a rare 1941 Knucklehead EL that looked to be an extremely nice survivor brought a hefty $50K. I don’t know if it was worth fifty Gs, but I assume it must have been and I like looking at it in all its dead-stock goodness. Rounding out the high end of Knuckles is a crème and light blue 1939 El Sport Solo that rang up $61K at the hammer.
Panheads are just enough of an advancement over a Knuckle to still think of them as totally useable Harleys and not just a beautiful antique. Mecum offered Pans as low as a pretty nice, yet lightly customized 1950 FLH for what seemed a more than reasonable $7,500. Not bad, not bad at all. For a little more moolah, you could have had a correctly, but kinda crazy ‘50s accessorized 1954 Pan for $13K or a lovely looking 1965 FL in black and white at $15K. Or maybe a first year 1949 Hydra Glide in nice shape at $19K is within your mental budget and for another G you could have had a nice rider of a 1952 FL at $20K.
As the late night infomercials always promised, “But wait, there’s more!” and Barnett’s Magazine Online doesn’t want to disappoint any of the Pan freaks so here’s a few more lots with a Panhead On Board just like those obnoxious yellow triangles on mini-vans proclaimed. This was possibly my favorite Panhead of the auction and right up there on all time. A gorgeous all black first year model, a 1948 FL springer, just hit me where it hurts with a look that makes my knees wobble, racked up $27K at hammer time and looks worth every single penny. I mean, is that about as beautiful as it gets stock or otherwise?
A couple of Panhead outliers at the auction might just be the ones to really connect with Harley freaks and that would be a couple of well-done replicas of Captain America and the Billy Bike from that old movie I can’t think of the name of. Both were based on 1950 Panheads, the Captain America bike went for $40.5K while the Billy Bike brought only a little more than half that at $23K. Man, for a total of $63,500 you could already have the stars of the next Easyriders flick at your disposal or with the right gear, you could parade around your town like Peter and Dennis did. The possibilities are endless.
No, Barnett’s isn’t forgetting Sportster freaks either with a trio of tasty XLs in the $20K range. An older restoration on a lovely white and gold two-tone 1957 model sold for $22.5K while another 1957, a numbers-matching, concours restored three-owner XL, offered quite a bit more for only $1,500 additional over the other ’57. Both were very nice, but of the two, the $24K bike was my favorite. The third Sporty is a late model custom billed as a 1991 XRTT that sold for $25K and if you don’t remember that model, don’t get upset as it didn’t exist. It’s somebody’s café version of what Harley might have made in period had it had the balls, but didn’t.
In the something different category I came up with a couple of pairings of types of bikes I found interesting. First up are a couple of boat tails and I’m not referring to the 1971-73 Buick Riviera ones, but two strange ducks from Harley-Davidson. The striking in black, beautifully restored with low original mileage (8,900 miles!)1972 FX Boat Tail that only rang up $14K is probably the more familiar Harley Boat Tail model even though it’s so rare as to rarely be seen on the street or anywhere anymore. When was the last time you saw one? Here was your chance to get something no one else you know has for only $14K. But, for less money you could have had something I’ve never seen outside of the traveling Harley-Davidson museum, a mint, rarer then rare even for something rare, a dead stock 1970 Sportster boat tail accessorized in Motor Company bits for only $12K. Oh you’d be the talk of the town, good and bad, if you were the last paddle raiser. Plus you’d have a Sportster that would never depreciate unless you did something completely stupid to it.
Another strange bedfellows pairing I liked was a very nice black and white 2007 Electra Glide police bike for only $6.5K still sporting all the cool cop stuff like it was going on duty later that night. Hopefully this cop bike won’t end up with a 30-inch front wheel and a killer audio system, I like it just the way it is. At the opposite end of the cop bike spectrum was a simply lovely looking 1936 VLH Flathead police bike that brought a very respectable $27K. It’s just the quintessential cop bike of old black and white movies.
I’m really only going to mention one Shovelhead that got sold at Mecum because it always floors me when I see things like this really do exist. I doubt that a lot of you know of this one, but it’s from America’s most recent centennial celebration 1976. It’s an absolutely mint 1976 H-D FLH Liberty Edition that got even a bit weirder when it was listed as having only 230 original miles from new. Not 2,300, although that still would be nothing to be upset over, but an unbelievable 230 miles verified by the original owner who sold it. So, what did a brand new 41-year-old loaded touring bike sell for in mint, mint, mint condition? How does $23K grab you? Talk about a solid gold investment, someone’s going to stash it away for ten years and make a killing.
And, last but not least, I gotta shout out a thanks to our own FXR queen and photographer, Penny Osiecki, who shot these photos of bikes, bike paraphernalia, and people at Mecum, here’s one for you. I hope you’re hanging around Vegas again when the next Mecum motorcycle auction on June 1-3 brings 750 more motorcycles across the auction stage. For more info on the June event, check out Mecum Auctions’ website at