A Trip Down Memory Lane Part 3

World War II

One of only two American cycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression, Harley-Davidson again produced large numbers of motorcycles for the army in World War II and resumed civilian production afterwards, producing a range of large V-twin motorcycles that were successful both on racetracks and for private buyers.

During World War II, the U.S. Army asked Harley-Davidson to produce a motorcycle as good as BMW's side-valve R71. So Harley copied the BMW, simply converting metric measurements to inches, and produced the shaft-drive 750 cc 1942 Harley-Davidson XA.

As part of war reparations, Harley-Davidson acquired the design of a small German motorcycle, the DKW RT125 which they adapted and marketed as the "Hummer" from 1948 to 1966 (in in the UK, BSA took the same design for their BSA Bantam).

Harley Davidson Photos

Some pics of Harley Davidson. Courtesy of ART PRINTS - Art.com!

Sorry to my readers for not updating all this while. I found a job as a mechanic and has been busy earning money to buy my dream Harley Davidson. Still a long way to go though...