This year marks 80 years since the end of the Second World War. Here’s one of the machines that contributed to the Allies’ success: a Harley-Davidson WLA.
It’s a pretty famous machine, enough that non-motorcyclists tend to know about it and claim that their granddad or great-uncle or whoever used to have one, and foolishly sold it without understanding the value. Maybe that’s true – more than 70,000 WLAs were made from 1940-1945 – but probably it’s not. Here, though, is an opportunity for you to become that eccentric relative that a grandchild or great-niece will one day tell tales of to random motorcyclists at interstate rest areas (Please tell me I’m not the only one who gets stuck in these kinds of conversations). Although, if you are able to meet this bike’s $26,500 asking price, presumably you have a better sense of its worth.
Driven by a 45 cubic-inch (735 cc) air-cooled side-valve V-twin, the WLA produced a peak power output of around 24 horsepower, which isn’t too shabby for the time. The vehicle was produced to US Army spec in the general military expansion leading up to US involvement in WWII, with production ramping up considerably after the US officially entered the conflict.
The A in the bike’s name stands for Army. Harley produced thousands of similar bikes for military and police use in different countries, including the WLC (Canada) and WLH (Holland, aka, the Netherlands). After the war, decommissioned units were famously more affordable than other civilian bikes and helped to kickstart modern biker culture. Exactly how much of this bike is original is uncertain from the ad. I’d assume the paint isn’t 80+ years old, but there’s enough authentic rust to make me think that it hasn’t been too aggressively restored. The presence of the rifle holster strikes me as a little silly, but to each their own.
Perhaps one of the reasons it looks as good as it does is that it hasn’t spent much time outdoors recently.
“In January 2025, a tune-up was performed,” according to the seller. “The battery was replaced, and the engine was started for the first time since the late 1990s.”
The seller says that under current ownership the bike has been ridden just 10 miles. So, it was someone else (or a bunch of someone elses) who put the other 35,762 miles on its clock. Man, imagine riding nearly 36,000 miles on a bike with no rear suspension. Oof.
You can find this WLA for sale in Oroville, California, with a BIN of $26,500 here on eBay.