This 1908 Harley-Davidson Strap Tank Set A Million Dollar Record At Auction

While today's motorcycles are naturally cool thanks to their sleek, muscular designs and advanced features, there's something kind of romantic about the motorcycles from the turn of the 20th century. The very first motorcycle patent was filed as far back as 1885, and with the outbreak of World War I in the early 1900s, mechanical and automotive innovations bloomed into a myriad of new possibilities, giving rise to enduring motorcycle brands like Indian. One of those new innovations was the very first Harley-Davidson motorcycle, created in 1903.

Harley-Davidson motorcycles have become some of the best in the business, and these bikes are known for their muscular statures and impressive engines today. However, early Harley bikes were much simpler and skinnier. With their more modest designs, combined with the passage of over 100 years, very few of these early-era bikes have managed to survive intact into the modern day. 

This, of course, means that the few that have are worth a fortune, as was proven in 2023 when a 1908 Harley-Davidson motorcycle sold for nearly a million dollars at a Mecum auction in Las Vegas, Nevada. This motorcycle was a 1908 Harley-Davidson Strap Tank. There is not only a fascinating story in its creation, but also in its recovery and preservation through the ensuing decades.

After Harley-Davidson was founded in 1903 by Milwaukee tinkerers William S. Harley and Arthur Davidson, the two spent several years iterating on the prototype motorcycle that originally inspired their collaboration. The duo produced their first five motorcycles in a small mechanic shed in 1905 before moving up to a proper factory in 1906. It was in this factory that the first wave of consumer-ready Harley-Davidson motorcycles were manufactured. These original hogs were dubbed the Strap Tanks, and it was their success that would catapult the burgeoning brand to miraculous success in the following years, with around 450 produced by 1908.

The original Strap Tank motorcycles, named as such after the nickel straps that bound the gas and oil tanks to the frame, were equipped with a proprietary atmospheric single engine developed in-house by the Harley-Davidson duo. This engine featured a 440cc displacement, which allowed it to output approximately 4 horsepower. That sounds like almost nothing by today's standards, but in a time where motorcycles were still an emerging consumer technology, it was quite impressive.

Of the original 450 Strap Tank motorcycles produced by Harley-Davidson, experts estimate that fewer than 12 have managed to survive intact into the modern day. The emphasis there is on "intact." Of those that survived, the majority have been modified somehow to keep them in a whole state, which harms the collector's value. This is why the Strap Tank that was sold in 2023 is such a miracle: It had just about all of its original parts, and all were still in pristine condition.

Apparently, this motorcycle was originally uncovered all the way back in 1941 by a motorcycle collector named David Uihlein. The bike was found unattended in a barn in Wisconsin about 70 miles away from Milwaukee with all of its original parts still attached. Uihlein took ownership of the bike, bringing it to expert restoration mechanic Paul Freehill of Fort Wayne, Indiana before placing it in storage for the next 66 years.

When this Strap Tank was brought before Mecum Auctions, just about everyone knew right away they had a proverbial unicorn on their hands. The bike still had its original tank, wheels, engine belt pulley, seat cover and muffler sleeve, plus an era-accurate gray finish with a red accent stripe. It was as though the vehicle had rolled right out of a time machine from the 1900s.

This wasn't the first Strap Tank to go through Mecum Auctions, with another model from 1907 going to auction for a modest $297,000 in 2021. Compared to that Strap Tank, though, this newer Strap Tank was the most complete and correct instance the auctioneers had ever seen. As soon as the bike went on stage at the auction, bids for hundreds of thousands of dollars started flying left and right.

After only a couple of minutes of bidding, the gavel ultimately fell on a bid for $850,000. Factoring in auction fees, and the grand total for this piece of automotive history came out to $935,000, the largest price tag for a motorcycle ever seen at Mecum Auctions.