Vintage Car Thread - Discussion and Parts Requests

[Stanley Doble]

The color used by HD was called "khaki". They started using it in WW1 (before that, their bikes were gray). In the thirties they started offering different colors.

 

[jamespowers]

The color used by HD was called "khaki". They started using it in WW1 (before that, their bikes were gray). In the thirties they started offering different colors.

Now that makes more sense. That is certainly NOT green.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Up close in person it looks olive drab. Or, as we used to say, "baby poop green."

 

[jamespowers]

Up close in person it looks olive drab. Or, as we used to say, "baby poop green."

That is an ugly color too.
So how did it ride?

 

[Stearmen]

The color used by HD was called "khaki". They started using it in WW1 (before that, their bikes were gray). In the thirties they started offering different colors.

Call it what you want, but it is green in person, seen enough of them!. Before that, The Silent Gray Fellow, and before that, black, like a friend of mines 1905. 1930 was the break out year, my V is red, very rare. Incidentally, there were no bikes in 1903 sold, it couldn't get out of it's own way, and was trashed. Only orders were taken in 1904, that's why, if you find a 50th Anniversary Harley, it was built in 1954!

 

[Stanley Doble]

It's not my idea. That is what Harley Davidson called it. I know what they looked like, I owned a dozen HDs at different times, the oldest a 1929 45. A friend had a 1913 V twin with transmission in the rear wheel, it was an original unrestored model and it was gray. Supposedly they switched to khaki when filling military orders during WW1.

 

[2jakes]

The ww1 military HD were produed in "flat" poopy green for obvious reasons.

The civilian HD models were available in "glossy" poopy green.

I have seen restored ww1 military HD in glossy colors.
Which only adds to the [huh]

 

[Fading Fast]

Nope, still ugly and on a car whose electrical system was designed by Rube Goldberg, whose interior was so small and tight that the pedals are too small for human sized feet and for putting a battery in the passenger compartment behind the dash so it could leak on the carpet and eat through it----there is no exception. ​

James you are impressive - you found an ugly example of a Jaguar sports car in Racing Green. I - with one caveat - concede. The caveat is that at Le Mans, in the '50s and '60s, those Jaguars in Racing Green looked pretty darn good. But maybe, as you pointed out, that doesn't translate to normal people cars.

 

[jamespowers]

James you are impressive - you found an ugly example of a Jaguar sports car in Racing Green. I - with one caveat - concede. The caveat is that at Le Mans, in the '50s and '60s, those Jaguars in Racing Green looked pretty darn good. But maybe, as you pointed out, that doesn't translate to normal people cars.

:rofl: There is a whole lot of green there. Having driven---or attempted to drive one----they are pretty darned small. The pedals look like those sorry "fun size" chocolate bars.



The pedals on a pedal car are bigger and spaced further apart! :doh: It was REAL fun to shift.
I still have an affinity for the XK120 though----I have no idea why.

 

[1mach1]

Nope, still ugly and on a car whose electrical system was designed by Rube Goldberg, whose interior was so small and tight that the pedals are too small for human sized feet and for putting a battery in the passenger compartment behind the dash so it could leak on the carpet and eat through it----there is no exception. ​

Three very valid points! lol

 

[jamespowers]

Three very valid points! lol

Lucas = The Prince of Darkness.
A gentleman shouldn't BE out at night in his vehicle. :rofl:

 

[jamespowers]

The only car that gets more miles vertically on a lift than on the road is the old joke.

 

[1mach1]

The only car that gets more miles vertically on a lift than on the road is the old joke.

lol
I'd be hard pressed to own one, that's for sure. Much less have to work on one. :doh:

 

[AtomicEraTom]

lol I love Di-Noc! I had these two wagons at the same time, as well as an 87 Caprice woodie. Bought that in High School and still have it.

Extra points for Di-Noc inserts!

 

[GHT]

The pedals look like those sorry "fun size" chocolate bars. The pedals on a pedal car are bigger and spaced further apart!

Compared to my MG the pedals look massive. The pedals on the MG are so pathetic, that, think RHD here, I have had a metal plate fixed to the side fabric because my foot constantly scuffed the material, causing it to wear a whole in the fabric. Much as I like the car, you have to learn to drive them with your big toes.

 

[jamespowers]

Compared to my MG the pedals look massive. The pedals on the MG are so pathetic, that, think RHD here, I have had a metal plate fixed to the side fabric because my foot constantly scuffed the material, causing it to wear a whole in the fabric. Much as I like the car, you have to learn to drive them with your big toes.

:rofl:

 

[Stearmen]

It's not my idea. That is what Harley Davidson called it. I know what they looked like, I owned a dozen HDs at different times, the oldest a 1929 45. A friend had a 1913 V twin with transmission in the rear wheel, it was an original unrestored model and it was gray. Supposedly they switched to khaki when filling military orders during WW1.

I just thought of something funny! I currently have six Harley's, mostly 30s, but I am trying to do a deal on the only official 1904 replica engine in the world. I don't even particularly like Harley's. Not even sure how I ended up with so many?

 

[Stanley Doble]

I thought the Harley green was called khaki but according to an online source they called it olive drab or olive green.

 

[Stearmen]

I thought the Harley green was called khaki but according to an online source they called it olive drab or olive green.

Of course, it was really, how do we sell bikes, good old marketing!

 

[LizzieMaine]

OD was often called "khaki" during the WW1 era -- "our boys in khaki" and things like that. Khaki nearly became a generic synonym for "Army color" before more color-conscious heads prevailed.