What's A Harley-Davidson El Knucklehead Motorcycle & What's One Worth Today?

Everyone knows Harley-Davidson as one of the premiere motorcycle brands, but the company hasn't had smoothest of rides. The Great Depression hit the motorcycle industry hard, with sales plummeting across the board. Harley-Davidson was one of the companies that lived long enough to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and that's all because of the El Knucklehead.

Engineered by the man himself, William Harley, the Knucklehead was a revolutionary powerhouse. It was a twin-cylinder, overhead valve engine, the first of its kind. Prior to this breakthrough, Harley-Davidson only used a side-valve flathead engine. However, with the new overhead valves, the Knucklehead brought unprecedented power, offering 40 hp with 61 cubic inches of displacement, hence why the first motorcycle to house the engine was dubbed the "61." Eventually, in the same vein as how the Shovelhead got its name, the community nicknamed it the "Knucklehead" since the engine looked like a fist.

In the 1930s, Harley-Davidson used the Knucklehead to set a land speed record, hitting 136 mph and cementing the El Knucklehead motorcyle's legacy as one of the best Harley-Davidson motorcycles ever made. But the Knucklehead's impact was more than just the strongest engine at the time. The company still uses an updated version of the design in many of its bikes today.

[Featured Image by Triple-green via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY-SA 2.0 ]

Despite influencing every Harley-Davidson motorcycle to come, the El Knucklehead motorcycle has become a relic of the past. They aren't in the manufacturer's circulation anymore and haven't been for quite some time, meaning they are now one of the rarest Harley-Davidson motorcycles ever built. Simply put, if you manage to find one at an auction and want to get your hands on it, the motorcycle is going to cost you a large sum of cash.

Mecum Auctions, a collector car specialist, had a 1936 Harley-Davidson E Knucklehead at the 33rd Annual Vintage and Antique Motorcycle Auction in 2024. Although it was the lower compression version of the classic motorcycle, the bike was an extremely-rare first year Knucklehead, and it sold for $115,500. Similarly, the Las Vegas showcase had another first-year bike in 2022, this time a 1936 El Knucklehead. Once the auction opened, the price immediately skyrocketed to six figures, and it wound up selling for $190,000. And in 2020, Mecum had a 1940 EL Knucklehead that sold for a whopping $220,000.

According to trends from Classic.com, a 1936 Harley-Davidson is worth $78,660, but you won't find a Knucklehead under $90,000. The most recent sale, excluding the one from the 2024 auction, was for $181,500 in 2022.

[Featured Image by Michael Barera via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY-SA 4.0 ]