Back in September I created a post about a 1948 H-D factory test trip that my grandfather participated in as a H-D employee, today marks the anniversary of another trip he participated in three years earlier. The purpose of this 1945 trip was the testing of hydraulic telescoping fork assemblies, at the close of WWII H-D went right to work on testing & development of the later named Hydra-Glide fork.
So, in November 1945 my grandfather and 3 other H-D Experimental Department men left Milwaukee for an extended test trip to the southwest United States and on this day Nov 30 seventy eight years ago the men visited Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. From this trip I have a Carlsbad Caverns souvenir booklet, a Nov 30 1945 park guide service receipt to document the date and several photographs taken during the trip at various locations.

 

Very nice. thanks for posting.

Paul

 

A great story and thanks for sharing.

 

I wish I could have had a job like that when I was younger! Thanks for the story and update!!

 

Get paid to ride and test new HD products? Sign me up!

 

That is so cool. Thank you for sharing.

 

Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

Do you have a picture of the bike that he was riding on that 1945 trip? It would be interesting to see if it was a Knucklehead, a flathead, or possibly some early prototype of a Pan.

 

Great story and I enjoyed the other post you made as well. It would be very cool for you to recreate that same trip at some point.
Great memories for sure.

 

Only two photos have a cycle pictured in them. One photo shows a cycle w/sidecar from the rear and I can make out that it's a knucklehead. The other photo shows my grandfather seated on a cycle w/sidecar from the left side but it only shows the upper third of the cycle. The photo must have been taken in cool northern weather as the cycle is fitted with a canvas winter windshield and a canvas lap apron. Grandpa is dressed in leather jacket with insulated leather aviator helmet & googles and has heavy leather mitts on his lap. You can tell that the cycle my grandfather is sitting on has a hydraulic fork because it's fitted with fork gaiter coverings.

 

Badger, I hope you don’t mind me sharing the following. Back in 2009 I had the opportunity to purchase a real Harley captain’s hat. It had an amazing collection of pins that clearly indicated it had belonged to a HD employee. One of the nicest I had seen. I paid $1100.00 for it and my wife thought I had lost my mind!

It was a little too small for my big head or I may still have it today. I wore it a time or two to rallies and was shocked by the attention it got. There was a small pin called a Flying Diamond and a guy tapped me on the shoulder and asked it I would sell that pin to him for $300.00. I said thanks, but no and he immediately raised his offer to $500.00. At that point I realized I made a good investment and started researching all the pins. There was an employee pin with a Diamond on it that I think was a 20 year pin. There were some cool factory visitor pins from the 50’s. Most of the pins dated back to the late 40’s to late 50’s.

Because it did not fit and was just on display in my shop I decided to sell it. I could have easily have sold the pins individually for over $2k. I wanted it to stay just as it was and found a guy that felt about it as I did. He offered me $1700.00 and I let it go.

I love this type of history from the earlier days.