I Waited 10 Years For This Box!

I've been waiting 10 years for this box And it's finally here what's inside is The last piece to the puzzle for one of The rarest motorcycles we've ever Restored right here at Wheels Through Time So much anticipation I can't believe It's finally here the bike at hand guys One of the rarest motorcycles in the World period certainly one of the rarest We've ever worked on here at Wheels Through Time absolutely One of a Kind Motorcycle and what's in the box the Last piece to the puzzle so bike at hand 1934 Harley Davidson 500 overhead valve Special Factory hill climber the only Known example period very possibly the Only one of these things ever produced So Harley Davidson 1920s was kind of Shifting from that track racing Focus to The American hill climbing scene and Indian Excelsior jumped right in with a Lot of their overhead valve special Really early on produce some incredibly Competitive motorcycles Harley at the Time was a little bit late to the game So by the 1930s Harley-Davidson's right Up at the top producing overhead valve Twins and overhead valve singles that Would really rival all comers the bike At hand only known example 500 cc's Which is big for the singles back then Harley in 19 20 26 introduced a 350 cc Single the 500 would come just a few

Years later there's not another one out There like this bike so the head ultra Rare cool as it gets monster overhead Valve head big huge fins ultra rare Cylinder here this engine like I said I Mean this is the stuff we dream about We've seen some pictures of motorcycles With this type of power plant from back In the day this maybe one other example Out there known with this sort of motor This is the only one in Hill Climb Fashion so actually you can see a Harley Davidson's Factory example it was Actually a European export road racer That had this very same type of engine Now one of the things you're going to Notice On this bike what's it missing it's Missing the gas tanks so today is the Day the gas tanks for this motorcycle Showed up I cannot tell you how excited I am Quite possibly the rarest Harley-Davidson gas tanks in the world Today period I've never seen another set A bike that exists with these gas tanks There's not any a period in the world Today uh and uh finally the gas tanks Are here now I've known about these Tanks for 10 years almost and it all Started with a picture online and uh A good pal of mine you guys have heard Me talk about metals and a ton Matt and I you know Harley-Davidson racing Buffs

Both of us you know so we get into the Rare stuff the things that you just Don't see every day uh Matt and I saw This picture of these pair of gas tanks And fantasize them about and fantasized About them for years uh just dreaming That one day we might be able to To see him in person so this motorcycle The cool thing about this guys you see Absolutely special chassis taller engine Than normal now the factory Hill Climb Chassis unlike the the track racers of The day they had the transmission back Here uh rear wheel sprocket on the the Left side for all your 45 and and single Cylinder jobs break in the rear keep in Mind a lot of your track stuff no brakes No clutch the hill climb stuff you had To slow down you had to put it in gear Uh so this chassis kind of equipped a Lot like a street chassis but it's been Set up here and modified I believe at The factory for that taller engine now As you get around to the front Factory Hill Climb Fork here with the Special scissor shock dampener this was Early friction dampening guys so you Tighten this down and it's really just a Scissor friction dampener that you can Tighten down with a nut over here and Tighten this up here to make it a little Bit less bouncy uh Harley-Davidson Peashooter style handlebars rare rare Stuff in Street trim guys the factory

Racing stuff I mean it just doesn't Exist today so this bike uh had been Disassembled a number of times over the Years uh Famous Harley-Davidson dealer Named Harry molinar Had the bike uh I assume probably in the 1940s 50s 60s 70s and over the years Harry ended up trading it to a good pile Of ours from Southern Indiana so The bike would come to us about 10 years Ago uh through a pretty cool trade and We had it here at the Museum and we're Really ready to put the thing all back Together one of the issues that we had With this bike was the tanks that came With it Cool tanks as they were but they weren't Factory made tanks these tanks were Actually As I understand it as The Story Goes These tanks were built by a guy named Gene Ryan Gene Ryan was an Excelsior Racer worked on Harley-Davidson stuff uh The tanks they slip on there and they Fit pretty good but they're not Harley Davidson made tanks and you know one of The things about the bikes here we try To be as historically accurate and as Historically perfect as we can we want To use the real pieces And these tanks would have made a Complete motorcycle they would have made An incredible motorcycle would have been Not the caliber of the all Factory

Components So today we're going to open This box for the first time and you guys Are gonna see these tanks For the first time you know I haven't Laid my eyes on these other than in Pictures and this picture I saw was an Old grainy photograph Tanks laying on the side right off the Bat you could tell that they were really Something special if you looked at the The factory photographs of that road Racer over there I showed you pictures Of you can see those tanks are unlike Any other Harley-Davidson tanks uh in The world today so these guys packed This really really well Um So these tanks have been sitting in the Same place Since I believe 1981 Unknown exactly where this fella got the Tanks we didn't get that far into the Conversation He wanted to see him go to the right Place and after I sent him pictures of This motorcycle Um He decided Wheels Through Time was the Place so here we are guys we're gonna Pull these things out oh man you Couldn't ask for any better suspense There it is sitting face down This is the right side gas tank And as I understand it these tanks are

Original paint so here we go They feel completely different than the Other gas tanks Oh my God look at this is unbelievable Look at that construction early on And then you know the ribbed back there And here's the big reveal Bada bing bada boom on Unbelievable look at that original Factory paint now guys You gotta understand just how much I'm Tripping out here uh Harley Davidson Factory Hill Climb tanks these are just As rare as rare could ever possibly be 1933 we call this the bird Um paint Scheme here in 1930s Harley-Davidson started Jazzing up their paint schemes 17 to 32 I'm gonna set this down and get the Other one out 1917-32 Harley Davidson offered bikes in Any color he wanted as long as it was Green Um Then mid 32 sales were low they're in The midst of the depression not a lot of Motorcycle sales across all brands Harley-Davidson decides let's Jazz up Our paint schemes make these bikes a Little bit more attractive so this is Actually oh there it is Hood dealer decal 1932 Harley really started jazzing Things up the Steam on these tanks is

Some Harley or it's from Harley's 1933 Uh oh man there's even some old grimy Oil on these these things have not been Messed with these have been looks like They're off of a bike man just Incredible Um so in 1930 Three Harley-Davidson offered what was Often referred to as the bird paint job You kind of see that uh bird silhouette Right off the side of the tank look at This this is incredible Slight little Dent shows the wear Oh my goodness Wow Wow wow these things are still sticky Packed incredibly oh my God it doesn't Get any cooler than this Wow Yeah so 1933 paint job with the bird This is actually Nile green and I Thought these were blue But it really looks black Um Beautiful pinstriping in gold and maybe Kind of a I don't know if that's a silver or not Look at these tanks Absolutely unbelievable You see no What these tanks what makes these so Special guys let me see if I can find us A stock tank to compare this to so Harley Davidson hill climber stuff uh

Everything's shorter everything's Abbreviated Um let me see if I can grab a tank there We go yeah there's a P-type tank so this is what would have Went on the Harley-Davidson uh say maybe Standard Road model of the ERA this is a Pea shooter tank 350cc and they made Some 500s a little bit later on now as You look at this tank you can see the Thing is way long Um comes to a big point in back this Tank here The front of it's almost the same Virtually the same caps in about the Same location you've got the same lower Tank mount But this one has been shortened for that Abbreviated backbone tube what they've Done here is they've peeled this way Down and brought this backbone tube down To move the seat forward that's what you Had to do on the hill climbers you want To get way up over on top of that bike So shorter tanks Oh my gosh this is incredible shorter Tanks seat Way Forward Now in order to accommodate the taller Motor as you can see here guys uh you Set these tanks up on this bike and You're running right into that big tall Motor there a 350 these tanks would slip Right on now this happens to be a 350cc Racing head they use these on some of

The 500s also now all the 500s are rare When it comes to overheads some of those Early 500s Use this little tiny pea shooter head Now Harley's first hemispherical Combustion chamber so you see that tiny Little Hemi head Ultra short intake Runner intake valve here exhaust valve Here this is this was actually a dual Port head And what they've done was they've lopped Off this second Port plugged it and They've ran it as a single port head so One pipe out the side A very very select few of the 500 Overhead valve jobs had this super Massive head here and as you can see It's got a different rocker plate Altogether Harley-Davidson uh you know Standard over I shouldn't say standard Special overhead valve configuration This has these little valve spring and Rocker arm enclosures that enclose the Spring kind of a la 1936 knucklehead Before the 36 knucklehead even came out So this head though if you put these two Heads on a scale I bet you there's a There might be an 80 there might be Eight or ten pound difference who knows I mean the fins are incredible This one's dual Port so if you come Around the front you can see the the the Left and the right pipe uh one valve two Pipes so this thing's made to go wide

Open and wide open only Ultra short Intake runner here now I've already got This bike running I got it running with A bladder had these tanks and something Was just telling me you know my dad had Had this on the bench here for I don't Know maybe Maybe six or eight years and it's been On the bench Um for You know he's been two years since he Passed now it's been on the bench those Two years and something's been telling Me not to finish it not to finish it With these tanks it was like you know What we're gonna keep working on other Stuff and here we are today and the year In the presence of the bike once again So you got to think guys One of a Kind motorcycle There's not that I know of And it's I showed this the pictures of These things that I got from just the Other day I showed the picture of these To a couple other of my buddies that are Really experts in Harley-Davidson racing Stuff some of the guys at the Harley Factory some other guys with great Racing collections none of us know of a Set of these gas tanks in existence Today It's very possible almost likely That these tanks Are the tanks from this bike and it'd be

Hard thing to question you know they're These engines they just don't exist Um and for something like this uh all These years later I know you guys have Seen it on a lot of our other Programming things coming back around 100 years later this place in 1934 so We're what 89 years old and here we are Uh what I believe Are the exact gas tanks from this Motorcycle coming all back together so Um you know a guy if he's not looking Close could argue that these might be The tanks off of this bike well the Thing about this bike there's a cast Aluminum oil tank underneath the seat Post and this engine actually you can See it on this side had a circulating Oil pump that circulated oil probably Harley's first circulating oil system uh On a factory racer didn't come out on a Knucklehead until 1936 but a circulated Oil back to the oil tank underneath the Seat post as you can see both of these Tanks Are actually gas tanks there's a fuel Line here sliding over to the other side And then it appears the fuel line climbs Across the front of the motor to the Carburetor these tanks Totally different first thing I'm Noticing is that it appears the petcocks In a different position or the petcock Hole so this is cool all right

This is real Moto nerd stuff guys if you Can't tell I'm excited Um just doesn't get much better than This for me so hill climber right here You go Blake's sitting on flat ground Right Bikes going up a hill like this where's That petcock pointed straight down Gravity feed fuel system so this is Actually a special bong on the back of The gas tank here To allow this thing to drain fuel Properly when it's on a monster Hill This is incredible stuff I've never seen Another setup like that Um Really cool so then what do it then see And this is yet another indicator okay So double gas tanks right well This set up here oh man this is so Amazing so this setup here as you guys Can see uh normally this is the split Tank Right so you got gas in the front or Excuse me gas in the back and oil in the Front Um That's not that I mean that was never Even a cap there that's just a solid Bong uh and I assume what they did was They set this here to locate the shift Gate oil in the tank here and it's one Oily tank And then the hand oil pump here over on

This side so this guys is what primes The lower end uh with oil so you'd sit Here and pump like this before you get Ready to run these tanks don't even have That so undoubtedly These are hill climbing gas tanks There's no question uh that these are Hill climbing gas tanks and here you Guys have the only Harley-Davidson big 500 overhead Factory Hill Climb job Period guys I don't think there's any Question these are the tanks From this motorcycle I really should Probably clean these things up I'm Putting the oils all sticky and Uh I'm leaving fingerprints all over These tanks as I've got a kind of clean That off and wipe them down guys but I know you guys hear it from me all the Time history happens here at Wheels Through Time every day uh Quite possibly the rarest Harley-Davidson gas tanks in the world Period to go on one of the rarest Harley-Davidsons out there today Certainly one of the rarest bikes that We've ever restored here at the Museum So keep an eye out for more content on This guys we've already had the bike Running but what we're going to do is Get this thing out fitted up uh with the Tanks back on it run some fuel lines and Oil lines and hopefully we'll be firing This thing up for you guys to see on

Another episode so uh thanks for tuning In guys I just Wow you know this is Something special and uh I wish my dad Was here to see it man he wouldn't even Believe it so really guys we'll catch up With you next time Dude dude Look at that hole look at this hole you See that There's a hole in the motor mount right Here oh my god dude that is just amazing