1940 Harley Davidson EL Knucklehead Original Paint "Greenie"

Rewind back to 1971, Harley-Davidson dealer Wayne “Pappy” Pierce allowed this bike to be traded in on a new Sportster at his dealership in DeKalb, Illinois. At the time, the going price of a used Knucklehead was far less than a new XL Sportster, which was a lopsided trade-in for a canny old dealer. What did Pappy know that nobody else remembered about prewar Harley-Davidsons?

When Pappy died, it was sold at auction to the current owner for a record-setting price, a record that was broken that very weekend when two other prewar ELs were sold for even more; the fever for prewar Knuckleheads was spreading.

The previous owner of Greenie then searched for 1.5 years to find the original invoices and documentation that proved this 1940 EL is in fact an original machine, ordered from the factory with green paint and nickel plating instead of chrome, as well as many extra details. By proving it was an original machine, the owner and this bike changed the conversation around what is a “correct” restoration of a prewar Harley-Davidson, as the AMCA had previously insisted machines needed to be restored as-per-catalogue to be correct.

It has now been proven that Harley-Davidson offered custom motorcycles from 1926 onwards, using DuPont paints as color options. Through further research, the owner has proven that such customization was the norm until 1942, and that a “catalogue standard” motorcycle was the exception rather than the rule.

After World War II, such customizing did not start up again until 1948, because of postwar materials shortages, and stapled-on notes from period factory literature note that items like chrome exhausts were no longer available from 1941 on. Even the original owners of immediate postwar Harley-Davidsons could not explain why their original-paint motorcycles had odd features from new, like a mix of one black-painted wheel rim and one chrome, or mismatched fender straps and strange S-shaped brake rods.

Much of this information was simply forgotten and never written down in factory histories, but a close examination of factory invoices and records reveals the true story. This 1940 Harley-Davidson EL Knucklehead is a factory original motorcycle on which an amazing amount of time has been lavished in documenting its history. In the process, the story of the Harley-Davidson factory and the rules for judging prewar Harley-Davidsons have changed, making this machine a landmark of motorcycle scholarship. As Greenie's previous owner has said, “This bike has changed Knucklehead history twice—and I expect it will make history once again.”