WL Harley-Davidson for sale
SELLER SAYS: 1941 Harley-Davidson WL. 750cc. Tank gear-shift, 3 speed, heel-toe clutch, 6V electrics. Fun to ride. Restored from the ground up. Completed in 2021 with attention to detail. 190km. Starts, rides and stops beautifully. Been started and run regularly. Road registered till Feb 2025. Contact Gae on 0490 091 856 (Redcliffe, Qld).
EDITOR TERLICK SAYS: In the early days of the conflict that became World War II, America was quite happy to keep its nose out of Adolf Hitler’s march across Europe. But as the conflict grew, so did America’s belief that it would eventually be drawn in. It was during this neither-in-nor-out period that the US Army started to consider what hardware would be useful, if and when it joined the war. Some motorbikes might be handy, eh? At the time, Harley-Davidson’s bread-and-butter was the WL — the ‘W’ identifying the 45 cubic-inch engine, and the ‘L’ noting high compression. The WL was tough as an axe and strong enough to carry a load, making it a great platform. H-D set to work to build a WL fit for tough off-road work, and the WL became the WLA — ‘A’ for Army. It was a good call, both by the Army and Harley, to pre-design the two-wheeled war machine because when the decision was made, the WLA was ready to go. During the course of the conflict, about 80,000 WLAs were built and sent off to war. When the war eventually ended, there were WLAs everywhere you looked; some alive, some dead, many abandoned in a ditch or leaned against a tree. And as the decades have since past, there are still many WLA’s on the road, recommissioned as civilian bikes. So, with all those WLAs scattered across the planet, it’s moto-mother, the WL, is remarkably rare! This bike of Gae’s looks stunning, with a great blend of restoration and originality. Lovely.
