1942 WL HARLEY-DAVIDSON WORDS AND PHOTOS STUART FRANCIS
Back in 1973, in the UK, my mate Dave Evershed bought a very nice 1947 WLD which attracted a lot of attention. Spurred on by this machine and fanciful thoughts about being the next Peter Fonda I started looking around. Most machines on offer were far too expensive or too far away. Dave spotted one in Northamptonshire that seemed to fit the bill.
20 Beaded Wheels
I bought my first Harley-Davidson in 1974 for £325 after some haggling. It was a second-hand WLC (Canadian Army 750cc sidevalve V-twin). I quickly discovered it had had a hard life, needed some work and the suicide foot clutch fitted was not normal. With the mechanicals in better order and a nice electric blue paint job I thought I was the bee’s knees. I had several adventures with this machine, including five weeks of commuting to and around London on a three-speed hand change, suicide foot clutch machine with virtually no brakes. However my last big trip on the machine, to the Isle of Man (IoM) for the 1975 International Six Day Trial, proved to be a challenge. I lost second gear (of three) on the way to the IoM and the generator started to fail later in the week. I still have flashbacks of trying to keep up with my mates riding along Marine Drive, on sidelights, one wet and windy night. Stupidly I sold the machine, plus another basket case WLA, shortly after my return from the IoM when somebody made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Fast forward to 1992. I heard through the Trowbridge grapevine that a local character had acquired some wartime HarleyDavidsons. Always regretting the sale of my first machine I hot-footed around to his place, whereupon he whisked me away to his secret storage shed hidden away in a remote village on the edge of Salisbury Plain. The story emerged that he had been working in Saudi Arabia and came across a scrapyard full of relatively new vehicles. Tucked away in one corner was a stash of dilapidated old motorcycles, including two Knuckle Head (EH) and seven WL 45ci Harley-Davidsons in civilian trim. He was told they were a group of machines suppled during the war as outriders for the Saudi Royal family. The Knuckle Heads had unfortunately already been sold but all the 45s were still there, previous potential customers having
