If you didn’t like high school algebra and doing your taxes makes your head spin, maybe you shouldn’t read the following. We get into some deep waters as we try to fathom the often bizarre world of Harley-Davidson’s “secret codes” employed since the dawn of the company’s existence. But if you’re into old bikes, like to unravel puzzles or just like crunching numbers, especially part numbers, read on.
In conducting research for the article we spoke with several restorers/historians/collectors and also chanced upon a book written by Herbert Wagner, an authority on Harley-Davidsons and the author or contributor to five books on the subject. He also served as a consulting historian for H-D’s Annual Reports. In writing about his fifth, and especially significant, book Myth, Reality, and the Origin of the Harley-Davidson Motorcycle, 1901-1909, he says his research had shown “how the story of Harley’s beginnings had been thoroughly screwed up by past generations of deceptive advertising.” He goes on to say that H-D even got its own birthday of 1903 wrong, that the first Harley-Davidson motorcycle did not appear in the historical record until the autumn of 1904 while marketing attempts didn’t begin until1905. In fact, his research findings demonstrate that the first complete H-D wasn’t sold until 1905, and that owner even has a name, a Wisconsin country mailman, Peter Olson. Wagner calls the 1903 founding date a “creation myth” and goes on to say that first in 1908 and much later in 1970 the company issued this incorrect historical information. (You can see where this is going relative to our quest for the accuracy/interpretation of Harley model designation and nomenclature.)
Wagner even sets the mystery off and running when he mentions that H-D began numbering their bikes in 1909. He asked, so what happened to 1903-1908? No answer. Whatever the accuracy on the founding year, he also says, “For me, the folklore and facts surrounding early Harley-Davidson only add to the company’s famous mystique and allure. After all, baby Harley-Davidson wasn’t writing history, baby Harley-Davidson was making history.
In fact, the Harley motorcycle of 1905 helped set the pattern for all American motorcycles to the present day. Other builders — including Indian — would follow Harley’s lead. Incredibly, in 1936 Bill Harley and the Davidson brothers did it again when they re-invented the American motorcycle with their fabulous 61-cubic-inch overhead-valve model, commonly known as the Knucklehead… I guess it all adds up to one thing:
Looking for more answers we went to Mike Smith, one of the country’s premiere bike restorers and motorcycle historians. He was loading up several ultra-rare bikes for the trip from his home in Oregon City, OR to the monster antique and classic bike auction in Las Vegas, but gave us his take on the H- D numbers game.
He starts with a surprise statement. “I don’t think the names came from Harley-Davidson.”
Huh? we stammer.
Then he goes on to explain. “I think they probably started out as street given names. For instance L and F head were automotive terms, not a Harley term. The L- head has to do with the flathead car motors like the Ford V-8. Everything had to do with their valve arrangements from the early car days. (The F Head design featured a side mounted exhaust valve and pushrod operated overhead inlet valve.) Harley’s very early bikes had letter designations in their catalogs.
The serial number on the bike however often had nothing to do with the letter in the catalog. For example, the Model 1912 might have had a model A,B,D,D,F while the serial number on the bike that they used in 1912 was a B, indicating bikes manufactured in 1912, because in 1911 all their motors were stamped with an A. Today people get tripped up on bikes, say the 1917T. In the catalog the number references it as a Boardtrack racer, of which only a couple were made, and now worth half-a-million bucks. However, 95% of their street bikes were also marked as a 1917 T.
The serial number on the bike had nothing to do with the catalog. About 1916 Harley came out with the J Series, and again it had nothing to do with the serial number. When they went to the 74-inch motor, they added the D. The J meant it was a 61- inch while the D meant it was 74 inches. But now if you look at all the serial numbers that go with the J or JD they included up to three more letters that further defined the motor, for example the JDCA. Why they came up with those letters, I don’t know. I’m not sure, but some of the letters might have had to do with export. The F was also a 61-inch while the FD was a 74 just like the JD. Other letters further described the compression ratio, whether it was set up for sidecar or sport solo, or whether it had iron pistons or not.
“In the 1930s, they got into the V Series…the VL, the VLD, the VLH…up until 1936. Then they went (and stepped back a letter of the alphabet) to the U Series which was a flathead 80- inch motor with a recirculating oil pump system. Then of course they had the E Series, the EL and the FL in the Knucklehead right up into the Panhead. Although it was a completely different motor, the only thing that changed was the reference to the head design, still an E or F Series, one a Knucklehead, one a Panhead. That existed until right into the advent of the Shovelhead still with the F designation.”
If that isn’t exactly clear as 50 weight oil, here’s a bit of information that Mike Smith came up with that could give us a handle on how it all came to pass. Let’s call it “The SOS Connection.” Back in the very early days of motorcycling you ordered your parts via the manufacturer’s catalog. And you made your communications via the prevalent means of communication at the time…not by the cell phone or the computer, not even the fax, not even the telephone, rather the telegraph. Dot, dash, dot. In fact the motorcycle catalogs listed the parts in alphabetical telegraph code.
We delved into this interesting trail of evidence by placing the question before Buzz Walneck, National Motorcycle Hall of Fame member, and well-known historian/collector/event promoter who came up with an original Harley-Davidson factory order form from which he read several examples, regarding the telegraph codes:
“In 1914 if you wanted a single cylinder, belt drive, you ordered an ‘Acorn.’ If you wanted a Model B with the chain drive, you ordered a ‘King.’ In 1916, if you wanted a 3-speed Twin, you ordered an ‘Egg.’ And if you wanted the large seat, you ordered the ‘Acorn Elephant.’ If you wanted a 1924 JD with standard 74-inch motor, cast iron pistons and electric equipment, you’d ordered a ‘Roach.’ And if you needed a 1924 roller bearing for the center rod, the order code was ‘Outhouse.”
Aha, this could be smoking gun, the connection between the telegraph, ordering parts, talking to the companies and the fairly weird number and letter designations. The telegraph molded the message. If you get hold of antique catalogs you can see it for yourself.
Looking for more nitty-gritty on the name game, we perused the writings of another recognized authority on the subject of Harley-Davidson history, author Harry V. Sucher. In his book titled simply Harley-Davidson, first published in 1981 by Haynes Publishing, he lists the various model designations over the span of H-D production (up until 1980). The name game picture grows somewhat clearer if you look at the factory list of model designations as you move up the decades. Well, maybe.
Here is what Sucher describes as “A General Guide to the Descriptive Designation of Harley-Davidson Models.”
Year
Piston Displacement
Type of Engine
Model Name or Popular Name
Factory Designation
1903
26 c.i.
De Dion-Bouton atmospheric Inlet valve
none
Inconsistent Numbering below 2500
1904-1918
35 c.i.
As above until 1910. Pocket valve thereafter
Silent Grey Fellow
5-35, 9A, 9B, 9E
1909-1929
61 c.i.
4 stroke pocket valve V-twin
Sixty-One
F, FE, J, JE, JD, JDH
1919-1922
37 c.i.
Horizontally opposed 4-stroke twin
Sport Twin W, WJ
1922
74 c.i.
Pocket valve to 1929
JD
1930
74 c.i.
Sidevalve twin to 1936
V, VL
1936-52
62 c.i.
OHV twin
Sixty-One Knucklehead
61E, EL, FL
1941-80
74 c.i,
OHV twin
Seventy-Four, Hydra-Glaid, Duo-Glide, Electra-Glide, Super-Glide, Panhead, Shovelhead
U, UL, FL, FLH, FXE
Taking a look at the Model Name or Popular Name, we see the first listed, beyond early unnamed motorcycles, as “The Silent Gray Fellow,” the name acquired by dint of bike’s gray paint job and reputation for quiet running. Fair enough. “Sport Twin” and “61” were no-brainers, an obvious reference to engine configuration and engine displacement respectively. And at this point we first hear the name “Knucklehead” which appears to have been a popular street name prompted by the similarity to a fist of the new engine’s rocker covers, a means of parlance that would carry over to the Panhead (1948-65), Shovelhead (1966-83) even the Blockhead (Evolution 1983-1988) as the engine’s evolved. (No nicknames, at least as far as we know, for new Twin Cam 88 (1998). We heard somewhere, maybe over too many beers, that the V-Rod’s engine was nicknamed the “Waterhead.”
The various “Glides” circa 1940s-70s were factory names. The Hydra referring to the new front telescopic forks front end debuted in 1949. The Duo was so named for its swingarm rear suspension and twin shocks (1958). The Electra-Glide (1965) was a Duo-Glide but now with electric start and a 12-volt system to go with it. The FX Super-Glide (1971) was a semi- blending of a non-electric start FLH 74 engine, frame, and running gear with the frontend from a Sportster plus Willie G’s “boat-tail” rear end. It’s also considered the first factory production “custom.”
In addition, a myriad number of other models and variations of models appeared with enough letters and numbers to fill several pages. Some milestone samples include the 45 cu. in. sidevalve V-Twins of 1929-52, factory designated D, DL, DLD, R, RL, RLD, W, WL, WLD and WLDR; the Servi-cars, G and GE; the Sportster XL ohv V-twin of 1957-70 designated 57-XL.
While Sucher notes “discrepancies in nomenclature” relative to the 45 c.i. sidevalve engines, it’s safe to go by the following to decipher those “codes” as used 1928-1952 when matched to various models. His list includes the following:
D – low compression
DL – high compression
DLD – high compression
R – low compression
RL – high compression
RLD – High Speed Model
W – Low Compression
WL – high compression
WLD – High speed model
WLDD – a WLD Special with deep finned aluminum head
WLDR – racing model intro’d 1940; known as WR
WR –racing models
(The letter C used in conjunction with models F, J, JD or V indicates heavy-duty low compression commercial type motor, generally fitted to sidecar or package truck models.)
A blizzard of letters apparently without too much rhyme or reason? It could be a lot simpler. A quick scan of the first Harley-Davidson bikes tell us the factory used the designations 0, 1,2,3,4,5/A/B/C, 5D…after which you can follow the alphabet over the next hundred years to literally span the letters A-Z. What was the Z Harley you ask? Why, the 1973-75 Z90, a 90cc two stroke wonder. But still the question remains unanswered. Was it just the luck of the draw? Did the aforementioned FLSTCI (Heritage Softail Classic Twin Cam 88) simply begin life back in 1918 as the F Model, so designated for its F-head design, and then accrue additional letters as the bike evolved to include FL, FLH, FLHT and so forth? The FL in FLSTCI harks back to the F models while STC translates to Softail Classic. So it seems the name game is an alphabet soup. At least in part.
Over the decades Harley-Davidson has weathered a tempest tossed sea fraught with financial peril but also continued to develop and produce many new models and in the process had to conjure up even more names and designations. A sample the 2006 line-up maintains that long connection to the past as echoed in the current nomenclature.
For example, the first Sportster appeared in 1957 under the XL-57 factory designation (and 54 cu. in.). For 2006 they are now served up in several flavors including the 883-XL 883, 883 Low-XL883L; 883 Custom-XL883C; 883R-XL 883R;1200 Custom-XL 1200C; 1200 Roadster – XL 1200R and 1200 Low – XL 1200L. The designations are fairly straightforward alluding to engine displacement (883 and 1200cc)/performance enhancements and bodywork/seat height. But the venerable XL designation is carried forward. So what did XL originally stand for? X usually meant “experimental.” Or “unknown.” L could have referred to valve design or just large, except the Sportster had neither the L head design, and as far as “large” it’s always been at the other end of Big Twin. Maybe X was just the next available letter of the alphabet or maybe it just sounded more mysterious, a good choice for a new bike. Maybe none of the above.
Let’s let Mike Smith and Willie G. Davidson have the last word. Says Mike, speaking of some of the factory designations and names, “I don’t know where they come from. Willie G. might know, but every time I ask him he just looks back at me, shrugs his shoulders and smiles, saying, “There’s sooo much still to learn.” And he‘s right.”
