1941 Military Harley-Davidson is a WWII Wonder
Rare and Original Military Knucklehead Discovered Near Shipyard
Military Harley-Davidson motorcycles are seriously cool pieces of history that we don’t often see floating around, especially for sale. So when this 1941 EL Knucklehead popped up on eBay recently, it was a no-brainer choice for this week’s “Wicked Cool Web Finds.” The fact that is has a pretty cool back story is just an added bonus.
This extremely rare and incredibly cool WWII-era Harley was discovered, of all places, in Keene, New Hampshire. Fittingly, between Portsmouth Navel Ship Yard and Pease Air Force Base. The 25-year-old restoration held up quite nicely over the years, and despite a few flaws, we’d say it’s perfect just the way it is.
Everything on the Knucklehead is original and numbers matching, save for the horn, stop light switch, and a later model primary cover. A bunch of date-coded and original military add-ons are present, too. They include a walkie-talkie, WWII-era attache case, shovel and hatchet. Pretty much everything you need tfor battle is still there.
But military Harley-Davidson motorcycles were rarely used in combat. For obvious reasons, of course. But they proved to be excellent for scouting, escorting and courier duties. The bikes were also used to transport things like radio equipment.
More importantly, motorcycles from that era played an important role in what would prove to be a critical time in world history. And since there are so few of these bikes left — especially in this kind of condition — preserving them is more important than ever.
