Our next short piece is on what I believe to be one of the finest Vehicles in the Harley City Collection. A brilliant mix of style, colour and ride-ability made the 48 one of Davids favourites. 

Harley City Collection.

1948 Harley-Davidson Panhead.

In 1948 Harley was in the middle of a post war boom in sales. 1947 had seen 20,000 V-Twins built by Harley and this year was to produce a similar quantity. But the really big news for 1948 was the new cylinder head design to later be known at the Panhead of course due to the shape of the rocker covers. The new heads were cast of aluminum to improve heat dissipation and also reduce weight. (Not always a major concern at Harley)

The new heads were also vastly easier to assemble and had improved oil sealing capabilities. Another nice touch and a feature that runs till this day was the introduction of hydraulic lifters. Not being as efficient as later units, the lifters situated on top of the pushrods were inclined not to operate correctly on wintery mornings until the oiled warmed to operating temperature but as soon as this was achieved mechanical noise was greatly reduced.  As always there were enthusiasts whom bemoaned the loss of their all time favorite the Knucklehead but generally the improvements were well received.

The frame, forks and general cycle parts were to remain virtually unchanged from the 1947 models with the Hydra-Glide released in 1949 was to see major changes in these areas. This means from a collector’s perspective that the 1948 Panhead is very desirable despite the relatively high numbers built. Their uniqueness was also recognized by the chopper builders of the late sixties and early seventies so the survival rate of good stock examples is not that high.

Our bike shown here is a 3 owner example with a mere 29,000 miles on the odometer. Harley did not offer any new colours for 1948 Flight Red, Skyway Blue and Black all being from previous years. Our bike is not in its original paint nor finished in its original colour. The second owner had a hankering for a yellow bike so with the original Flight Red as an undercoat yellow it was to be. Interestingly Harley also had a thing for yellow in 1948. The owner’s manual cover and the Conchos on the deluxe package seat and saddlebags were all finished in that colour. Just before Harley City purchased this bike some 10 years ago it was photographed for Greg Fields book “Original Harley-Davidson Panhead” considered the bible for all things Panhead.

The bike had also had a slightly later seat fitted so Harley City had the original pan recovered  in the correct deluxe solo style with matching correct for 1948 saddlebags. The handlebars were exchanged for period Hollywood style bars a good service and the bike was ready for regular use. Since its sojourn in Australia the Forty Eight has done 2 Great Races as well as being used on many Melbourne commutes. It performs faultlessly starting with a couple of prods of the bicycle style kicker pedal. Cruising is a treat with handling greatly enhanced with 1947-48 offset Springer forks. Acceleration is crisp and brakes well lets just say they are Harley like. All in a very enjoyable riding experience.