"Belly numbers" are stamped into the bottom of each crankcase half. It was was unveiled for the first time to the dealers in Milwaukee at their November 1951 convention. Note: the 1952 K model was late to market. Dividing the total production by 12 months can give you a best-guess as to what month your bike was produced, but this will not be truly accurate. Harley's book, The Legend Begins, provides annual production figures. Sales might not have matched the factory's predictions, so they might have had to catch-up by increasing production of one model while slowing production of another. Normal production scheduling required things to be made in batches. Historian Jerry Hatfield researched monthly production figures at the Harley-Davidson archives, but found they varied "all over the place".
HARLEY TRANSMISSION SERIAL NUMBERS SERIAL NUMBER
The serial number was applied late in production, close to the factory door. Here are some photographs of serial numbers. The font used for the VINs varied over the years. The other theory is this was a nefarious scheme to make people think production was much higher than it actually was, to mask Harley's low sales figures in the 1960's. Why? One theory is that this was an anti-VIN-forgery scheme. In years ending with an odd number (example: 1961), the first digit of the production number was always odd. So the first few 1959 Sportsters might have been numbered, then 59 XLCH 1001, then, then 59 XLCH 1003…įrom 1960 through 1969, Harley started an unusual odd/even scheme. The sequence number runs with the basic motorcycle model, not the different variants. We will use 1000 through the remainder of this article. Although the common wisdom has long been 1001, there have been a few documented cases of a serial number 1000 uncovered. The production sequence number gets complicated.īefore 1960, the sequence number started with either 1000 or 1001 - NOT 0001. – a four or five character (numeric) production sequence number – one-to-four character (alphabetic) model designation – a two character (numeric) model year, last two digits But before that…įrom the early days, up to and including the 1969 model year, Harley-Davidson stamped the serial number of a motorcycle into the left engine case. Department of Transportation mandated a standard 17-digit Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) scheme, and for motorcycles, mandated the VIN be affixed to the frame. There was no industry standard, so each manufacturer made up their own numbering scheme, and affixed it to the vehicle wherever it wanted. Other books and websites often use “mid-year” to mean “sometime during the year”, but we'll try to reserve the term “mid-year” to really mean “middle”.Īlmost every vehicle ever made has a manufacturer's serial number located somewhere on it. If we really have no idea, we will use “sometime during the year”.
In some cases, it is possible to narrow it down further than that, but in most cases it isn't. When we speak of a change occurring during early/mid/late year, we are referring to the model year. So that first 1960 may have parts manufactured in July or August 1959. The individual parts, particularly basic things like engines and frames, were often made a month or two ahead of time. The first 1960 model year motorcycle that appeared on the dealer's showroom left the factory around September 1, 1959. This is four months – one-third of a year – ahead of the calendar year! Since the beginning of time, car, truck, and motorcycle manufacturers have introduced their shiny new models after summer's over, and people are heading back to work and school.
Then there's the automotive model year, which runs from September 1 to August 31. First, there's the calendar year, which runs from January 1 to December 31. There are two kinds of years we'll be dealing with here. The following descriptions of "numbers" applies specifically to Ks and Sportsters, and in general to all Harley-Davidsons up to 1969. Identifying your K Model or Sportster requires looking at a lot of numbers to determine what year the motorcycle is, and whether many of the parts are original to the bike.
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