“Gentle as a billowy cloud” isn’t the first thing I think of when I think of Harley-Davidson motorcycles, but a vintage ad touts the ride quality of the 1960 Harley-Davidson as being just that, billowy. The Topper is an interesting two-wheeler from a company that’s over 120 years old and is more known for its line of V-Twin road-pounders. The seller has this “museum quality” restored example listed here on eBay in Garden City, Idaho, there is no reserve, and the current bid is $6,600.
The Topper was made from 1960 through 1965 and it may have been the most interesting non-“normal” Harley-Davidson motorcycle, at least from my perspective. The company offered Italian dirt bikes and mini bikes, snowmobiles, golf carts, and more. The Topper may be the one most accepted to roll into downtown Sturgis in 2025, just in case any of you were thinking of making a trek to the Black Hills of South Dakota with a Harley.
They were made out of steel and fiberglass, basically, steel in the front and on the floor, and fiberglass elsewhere and the seller says this example has been restored and it is in museum quality. That’s hard to argue with, and they have provided quite a few good photos, even some showing the restoration. I think you’d be safe riding this into downtown Sturgis. No, really.
I have never owned or ridden one of these but I’ve wanted one for years. The main complaint from early owners was related to the CVT (continuously variable transmission), which Harley designers referred to as the “Scootaway Drive.” Dirt and other grime would get into the belt and cause it to slip on early models. Also, without a cooling fan, the engine was expected to be cooled by air coming into the engine compartment from underneath, and that wasn’t ideal.
Here’s the engine after it was rebuilt. This is a 164-cc two-stroke single-cylinder with nine horsepower. That’s a monster engine compared to a lot of my tiny oddball motorcycles, but the Topper topped out at around 250 pounds, so this was no lightweight machine. Still, they were good for around 45 mph. The seller says over $30,000 was invested in bringing this Topper to this incredible condition! There is no reserve on this auction so someone is surely getting the nicest one around when this auction ends. Have any of you owned or ridden a Harley-Davidson Topper?
Amazing restoration 👏
Picture this….
Pull up in Sturgis on this…
Blasting Steppenwolf……
Except with a slight change to the lyrics…
Born to be MILD!!!!!
Well it plays out funny in my head.
But to this, this restoration is just out of this world. Someone must have really had a strong desire to make this right. The chrome, paint everything is amazing.
Why would someone spend $30k on restoring something that couldn’t be sold for nearly that, then put it up for sale? It already went past the reserve , which was below $6600
For some people it is not about the money but rather the love, enjoyment and satisfaction of bringing a vehicle back to how it left the factory condition. Lord knows almost every car that I’ve ever owned and sold, I usually lost either money and if not that, I never get paid for all of the hours of time I have invested in it. I don’t mind though. Messing with old cars is cathartic for me and I am not expecting to recoup every dime and hour I have into the car.
Well, I’ll tell ya’. Born and raised in Harley( AMC, and Beer) City, the only place one would see these, is the Shriners that put on their dazzling displays in parades, and used Toppers. Elsewise, one never saw one. An old truth held fast, 2 things you do late at night. One can’t be mentioned here, the other is ride a scooter, regardless of make. Hardcore HD fans never recognized any of these 2 stroke jobs, just wasn’t natural. Not to say, some kid didn’t use their grass cutting money to buy a used one,( or for free) and cut their teeth on riding skills with one. It most certainly led to more practical bikes.
And I’m sorry, spending this amount of money on a limited interest item like this, regardless of the attraction, clearly indicates a psychological issue.
Great find. My friend had a black and white one in the early 70s. It was fun to ride, pull start and smooth acceleration. Speedometer went up to 60 and It would do an indicated 60. It would keep up to my 64 250 Harley Sprint till about 45.
I was 10 then and nuts about Cushman Eagles of which there were a few in our small town. Pretty sure a scooter license was avail to 14 yr olds…. so naturally we all wanted to be 14… In a magazine there was an ad for the Topper with the little form that you cut out and filled in name etc… mailed away to send for the brochure…. it was great being a kid..
I rebuilt a 1960 Topper myself several years back to museum quality and I had less than 4k in it. My grandkid learned to ride cycles on my Topper and it held up beautifully. I remember selling it for around $3200 10 years ago. Blue and white. Wish I still had it
My neighbor had a blue and white one back in the day. The best part was watching him start it by reaching down to that lawn mower type pull cord and giving it a yank, straight up.
Its never about the money tho’ many on this site are proccupied by that. I call it the “fun to money ratio”! This reflects a priceless amount of fun!
Love it! Well done!
Hi Lowell, I’m probably the biggest bellyacher when it comes to prices today. I have to disagree, however, $30,000 grand can buy a whole lot more fun than restored scooter. The price literally eliminates anyone that might enjoy it anyway. In a small town like mine, this could be a hit. Short trip 6 blocks to the bank or Wallyworld, but be a nice day in the Badger I’d pay $30,000 to do so. Not when E-bikes, that do essentially the same thing, are 1/10th the cost. No, I don’t see the fun part at all.
Different strokes……Howard.
Different strokes…..Howard
Auction update: this gem sold for $6,956.