By Joe Berk
The Harley WLA at the National Infantry Museum was a lot prettier than any other WLA I had ever seen, but I wasn’t impressed. It was way over-restored, finished in gloss OD green (something I had never seen on a WLA before). I couldn’t find anything in my research to show that any World War II Harleys might have had such a paint treatment. I found a reference that indicated Army administrative vehicles were sometimes painted gloss OD, but nothing about motorcycles.
I once saw General William Westmoreland’s Cadillac Sedan de Ville in Washington, DC, and it was gloss OD. But WLAs had been out of service long before that, and in any event, when I spoke with General Westmoreland he didn’t mention anything about riding motorcycles. If anyone out there knows anything about WLAs with glossy paint, please leave a comment.
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Great photos as usual.
Thanks, John. I had some difficulties in getting them, so I’m glad they turned out okay.
And yet no matter how you dress it up it will still leak oil.
My ’79 Harley Electra-Glide could have been a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. My ’92 Softail didn’t leak a drop in the 15 years I owned it.
Bob Oralbaloney-
What bike didn’t leak in the 1940’s?
Heck , many bikes of earlier times were total loss lubrication . But the flatheads werent bad . They had no rocker boxes to leak for one .
Chains thru some oil if maintained correctly. They didn’t have chain wax back then .
Actually that’s why black shirts became popular with riders. Oil thrown up their backs was better on a black shirt.
Anyway what’s a little oil ?
Don’t be such a wuss.
My “79’s weren’t bad leakers.
The transmission shaft seals leak
So one gets those spots on the ground at the back rear of the primary .
Some may leak a bit from pushrod tubes. I usually shut off the oil pump to chain oiler.
Today’s gaskets are better.
Berk maybe should have run straight 70weight. If he was using multi weight car oil then sure it leaked .
I can’t remember what I ran back in ’79, but it would have been whatever the dealer recommended. I vividly remember them telling me to put either a dime’s worth of diesel or a bit of Marvel Mystery Oil in both fuel tanks to help prevent the valves from sticking (it didn’t work). If I had heard that before I bought the ’79, I probably would have taken a pass. But, I wish I still had the ’79 today.
Hack – Yeah, my modern Harleys don’t leak unless you count the bad oil line on my 95 Sporty that began leaking but was fine after replacement. Even my ’73 Sporty doesn’t really leak. But anything from that era will. I used to crew a restored B-17 with Curtiss-Wright R1820 engines and those leaked EVERYWHERE. It was part of the fun. Or, as we used to say, they drink gasoline and piss oil.
I first read this as Tom Petty.
Tom Petty to fight.
Fight whom? Iron Mike?
But then I realized Tom Petty is dead.
Anyway that bike wouldn’t be anywhere near a battle with the giant white star target on it.
If anything it was stateside giving rides around a base. Side cars wouldn’t be front lines dispatch bikes.
No free falls for me. All static lines.
Thanks for commenting.
Who is/was Tom Petty?