{"id":2470,"date":"2008-05-01T00:00:32","date_gmt":"2008-05-01T04:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/?p=2470"},"modified":"2020-01-14T10:55:24","modified_gmt":"2020-01-14T15:55:24","slug":"1923-model-j-harley-davidson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/motorcyclemojo.com\/2008\/05\/1923-model-j-harley-davidson\/","title":{"rendered":"1923 Model J Harley-Davidson"},"content":{"rendered":"
We\u2019ve all heard the stories claiming that a friend of a friend, who knew another guy that knew your fifth cousin twice-removed, was looking through the buy and sell paper and stumbled on an ad that said something like, \u2018Bike for sale, best offer.\u2019 After removing decades of dust and refuge, the bike turned out to be the find of the century and he purchased it for pocket change.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n This story runs along those lines except it wasn\u2019t a newspaper classified ad and I bet it cost more than pocket change, but it could be considered a find as rare as hen\u2019s teeth.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/a>The acquisition of this motorcycle ran in more civilized circles which began with a conversation between Dave and a trader of vintage iron. With photographs and further conversation regarding the possibility of such a rare find between Dave and his friend, Rich, also a fellow collector, it was a general consensus to all involved that it could be an extremely rare find, a collectors dream.<\/p>\n When Dave and his wife, Sue began collecting vintage Harley-Davidson motorcycles almost 20 years ago as a hobby, they really had no idea they would stumble on a bike as rare as the one that graces these pages. In fact, this bike is so rare, Dave has reason to believe that even the historical archive department of the Motor Company on Juneau Avenue in Milwaukee doesn\u2019t have one.<\/p>\n Dave grew up around Harleys and has been riding and wrenching on them for about 27 years. This has led Dave and Sue to have a long-time interest in Harley-Davidson history and the reason why they began their modest collection in 1989. They have now amassed a total of eight motorcycles in their stable, some of which Dave and Sue ride regularly.<\/p>\n \u201cWe came across our first one around 1989, it\u2019s a 1946 WL. It was road worthy and ridable, but it needed a lot of work,\u201d Sue said. \u201cSince Dave is on the road a lot, it still needs work.\u201d<\/p>\n Dave\u2019s job takes him on international travels and that makes it handy for making contacts around the globe, but not so good for finding time to work on the bikes. This might be one reason why Dave now looks for complete correct bikes and he keeps them that way, without restoration. He likes to see them naturally aged instead of showroom condition.<\/p>\n Anyway, back to the story at hand. It was while Dave was working in the southern States that he happened upon a businessman who dabbled in buying old bikes and importing them into the United States for auction.<\/p>\n