Wartime Knucklehead Is ‘Rarest of Them All’
Remarkably in good shape, this 1943 Harley Model F up is for auction in Las Vegas, Jan 28.
Anybody who has ever owned a Harley Davidson has probably heard those stories about “barn finds,” where some lucky guy stumbles across a rare, vintage Harley in a farmer’s barn, collecting dust and cobwebs.
The story almost always ends with that lucky sap cleaning up the bike and selling it for a small fortune. Quite often, that motorcycle is a Knucklehead like this one up for auction.
This old-timer will fetch some money, guaranteed. The auctioneers at Mecum claim this 1943 F Model Knucklehead is the rarest of the 12 Knuckleheads built during that year, in the heat of Word War II.
Rare Breed
Knuckleheads in excellent condition can easily sell for more than $100,000 these days. The top-selling motorcycle offered at Monterey 2022 was a restored, 1936 EL Knucklehead that sold for $181,500.
In the 2021 auction in Las Vegas, a total of 11 Knuckleheads sold for more than $100,000. Before that, only three Knuckleheads had sold for over $100K, according to the online publication Atlas. Before that, the highest-priced Knucklehead ever sold at auction was $220,000 for a 1940 FL Knucklehead.
Atlas also makes the somewhat dubious claim that puts the Knucklehead into rarefied air, more valuable than even legendary vintage motorcycle money-makers like the Vincent Black Shadow.
‘Period-Correct’
This 1943, vintage bike currently up for auction is “period-correct,” says Mecum, with a rebuilt engine and transmission and “many painted parts where one would normally see chrome.”
The Model F is the lower-compression variant of the 74 CI motor, which was Harley Davidson’s second production engine, behind only the Flathead 45ci, in terms of age.
This was the first Harley built with overhead valves and was the Motor Company’s first bike to come outfitted with a speedometer as standard equipment. It has a four-speed gearbox and a spring seat.
According to Mecum, this Knucklehead would have been given to only highly essential workers in the war at that time, such as doctors.
As you can can tell from the photos, it is begging to be re-painted.
Harley and the Military
The term “Knucklehead” of course is the nickname for the engine HD put in its motorcycles from 1936-1947. It’s called that because the rocker box covers resemble knuckles on a fist.
There were 41,000 Knuckleheads produced. That number would have been much higher, but World War II dramatically affected production. In fact, only a dozen were made during 1943, arguably the most intense year of the war.
HD concentrated almost exclusively on making bikes for the military during the war. The WLA, also known as the “Liberator,” is the most well-known Harley made during that period, but there were others, such as the three-wheeled TA, XA and the XS. All contributed to the war effort.
Mecum holds what is usually the largest motorcycle in the world in Las Vegas every year, in direct competition with another big auction house, Bonhams, which is based in London.
Photos: Mecum Auctions
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