S
Stormy
Guest
I was told Australia buried hundreds of H-D motorcycles after WWII. Proof?
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H
havenjohnny
Guest
H yeah army bikes went all over the world Old Mex is full of them But impossable to get back into States Lots of pans down there
Full list is in govt archives " surplus" records and there is a fee
May tell you close to how many,I think you may need a little more than fresh gas to start them if your going to dig one up
Full list is in govt archives " surplus" records and there is a fee
May tell you close to how many,I think you may need a little more than fresh gas to start them if your going to dig one up
S
steves95008
Guest
Not hundreds but THOUSANDS in pits in the Australian Outback. There are many theories why they were buried. The leadings ones are.
* The then Aussie govt didn't want to sell them surplus for fear they would be smuggled into other countries.
* They were in such poor condition, they couldn't be salvaged or sold are surplus.
* The British motorcycle industry wanted to sell into Australia after the war. Thus, they wanted these American Harley's out of circulation to make market demand.
* They could not sell them and was required to ship them back to the States. The cost of shipping was too much so they "lost" them by burying them in the Outback.
This is one of those things talked over beers at Sturgis ever year at some bar somewhere.
* The then Aussie govt didn't want to sell them surplus for fear they would be smuggled into other countries.
* They were in such poor condition, they couldn't be salvaged or sold are surplus.
* The British motorcycle industry wanted to sell into Australia after the war. Thus, they wanted these American Harley's out of circulation to make market demand.
* They could not sell them and was required to ship them back to the States. The cost of shipping was too much so they "lost" them by burying them in the Outback.
This is one of those things talked over beers at Sturgis ever year at some bar somewhere.
J
jrrysimmons
Guest
Most military vehicles were left in the countries where they were deployed to. My question would be, why so many in Australia? not much action there. there were thousands left in Europe and Asia. Many more were sold to the Canadian and Russian forces. HD built 88000 45" WLA's during the war and I don't know how many U model 74 inchers. 45s were mostly used by the Army while the USMC and Navy had 74s I brought one of each back from the Philippines in the early 90s. Still got 'em both.