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The Best of of the EJ Cole Motorcycle AuctionMarch 20-21, 2015 - Las Vegas, Nevada |
Sold for $165,000 on March 21, 2015 Consequently, the 45 cu-in. DAH is among the rarest of all Harley-Davidson models offered to the public, and this restored machine is among the very few pre-Knucklehead OHV models produced. This machine has a documented competition history with Windy Lindstrom, and it was used by sculptor Jeff Decker as a model for his famous statue ‘The Hillclimber,’ which sits outside the Harley-Davidson museum. |
| 1930 HARLEY-DAVIDSON FACTORY HILLCLIMBER | |
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The American sport of hillclimbing grew
hugely in popularity in the mid-‘20s as nearly every state had a steep
hill to climb, and specialized mid-capacity racing twins from Excelsior
and Indian dominated the 45 cu-in. class of the sport. H-D’s response to
all this was the roadster Model D of 1929, a competent if not
much-celebrated 45 cu-in. model, which nevertheless opened the door for
a 45 cu-in. racer. H-D’s racing department had quietly adapted its
twin-cam, 61 cu-in. racing bottom end to a pair of OHV ‘Peashooter’ top
ends, but this was not especially successful. The brass at H-D agreed a
45 cu-in. racer was needed for the popular new capacity class, and one
result was the ‘DAH’ hillclimber introduced in 1929. The DAH tasted its first win under professional rider John Grove, at the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, hillclimb in July that year. Herb Reiber, Windy Lindstrom, and the legendary Joe Petrali would all earn national hillclimb titles with the DAH by 1932. Of course, the debut of the DAH coincided with the Wall Street Crash of ’29, and sales of all motorcycles plummeted. H-D had produced a mere 25 of these specialized racers between 1929-33, and in order to generate revenue, the company eventually sold its entire stock of DAH’s at the knockdown price of $300 each. |
