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As found on the
Internet, by F-Head
1903
HARLEY RESTORATION :
Intrigue Builds Around Original Bike
Few veteran manufacturers
know the where abouts of their original product. One of the intriguing
aspects of Harley-Davidson ís recent restoration of the
first bike the company ever built in 1903.
Another wrinkle is the mystery surrounding the story behind the
first bike ever produced by William Harley and the three Davidson
brothers.
We know where our first bike is, says Harley-Davidson Historian
Martin Rosenblum. Its story is a real mystery, though. We've
been working day and night to find the true story behind serial
number 1.The original Harley-Davidson was diligently restored
to its 1903 configuration by Motor Company Archives employee
Ray Schlee with assistance from John Rank, a Milwaukee car and
truck dealer who restores motorcycles as an interest.Those who
attend the 95th Anniversary celebration next year can see the
bike, which was recently displayed at Bike Week in Daytona.Rosenblum
and Schlee are certain they have the first production Harley
-- a single-cylinder engine with 26.84 cubic inches of displacement
that makes 3*hp. Evidence suggests it was a prototype made for
racing. Harley-Davidson built two additional 1903 models for
sale, but there is no trace of either one.
According to one possibility, the first bike was sold to a Mr.
Mayor of Chicago in 1904 and changed hands three times before
Steve Sparough, an automotive repairman from Chicago, bought
it.
I make trips with my machine to repair cars if they get into
trouble out in the country, Sparough wrote to a Harley-Davidson
distributor, C.H. Lang, on April 15, 1912.
Sparough may have sold the motorcycle back to Harley-Davidson
between 1912 and 1915.
Another possibility was recently discovered when studying Milwaukee
County Historical Society photos that are part of the original
Archive collection.
The first Harley may have been put into storage at the company,
then dusted off in 1915 to be displayed at the Pan-American Exposition
motorcycle show in California. |