I have written about many classic motorcycles since joining the crew at Barn Finds. However, digging through the site’s archive revealed that it has been almost three years since I tackled a Harley-Davidson. The time has come to right that wrong, courtesy of this 1967 Harley-Davidson FL. It presents nicely as a survivor-grade vehicle, retaining most of its original paint. Its beauty is more than skin-deep, with the seller confirming it is a turnkey proposition. That will allow the winning bidder to enjoy this beauty immediately while they contemplate whether its future involves restoration or preservation. The seller has listed the Harley here on eBay in Columbia Station, Ohio. Bidding sits at $6,327, which is below the reserve.
The seller states that this Harley retains most of its original paint. They describe it as “Hi-Fi Sparkling Burgundy,” although that shade doesn’t appear on the 1967 color chart. It could be a Special Order example wearing Hi-Fi Red, but only an in-person inspection would reveal the truth. It isn’t perfect, but considering it is a survivor with almost six decades of active service behind it, the presentation is extremely tidy. The buyer could undertake a cosmetic restoration, although history shows that most enthusiasts are drawn to genuine survivors. It is definitely designed for long-distance touring. The fiberglass saddlebags appear to be crack-free, offering excellent luggage protection and security. The White leather saddle looks extremely comfortable, and the enormous windshield should offer reasonable protection from wind and light rain. The chrome luggage rack is another practical feature, and, like the remaining trim, its condition looks very nice.
Launched in 1941, the original FL featured the 74ci “Knucklehead” V-Twin. The company transitioned to the “Panhead” in 1948, with the “Shovelhead” following in 1966. The Shovelhead featured the same 74ci capacity as its predecessors and produced a very respectable 60hp. The flexibility of the Harley-Davidson V-Twin meant it could cope with a four-speed transmission, while many European machines from this era required a five-speed to compensate for lower-torque engines. The seller states that this Shovelhead fires into life easily, whether by kick or electric starter. They include an embedded video in their listing supporting the claim. The motor sounds glorious, with the full-length exhaust removing the brutal edge from the engine note. It is a turnkey proposition, ready for action once the winning bidder hands over their cash.
Purchasing a classic Harley-Davidson is about more than simply owning a motorcycle. It offers admission to a community of enthusiasts who will support one another when things go wrong. One owner will rarely leave another stranded on the side of the road due to a breakdown. They will stop and help to get them mobile again. This 1967 Harley FL will allow someone to join that community immediately because it is ready for adventure and life on the open road. These classics typically draw the most respect when original, but since this FL isn’t perfect, would you perform a cosmetic refresh, or is preservation more appropriate?
,,,,,,,,,,oh boy, here come the waterworks,,,”well now they call me the Breeze, I keep rolling down the road”,,,I’m not sure if these are tears of joy or sadness,,,let’s go with joy. One of my good trucking friends, we called him “The Breeze”, because his last name was Brz—–, mostly in my rock hauling days in and around Milwaukee, say, late 70s, he had a bike just like this, only a ’65. 1st year for electric start, one winter, we rebuilt the bike in his living room, which was the style at the time,,,he had it painted black and white, to mimic the Milwaukee police bikes of the 60s. 1st touch of Spring, we’d haul rocks all day, come quitting time, we’d go for a putt. it was considered therapy after a long day in the dump truck. I had my 1st GW, a ’75, and even though my GW was out of place. The 2 bikes couldn’t have been more different, like Laurel and Hardy, but we had a kindred relationship. I can cherish those memories once again, thanks to this “visual” and to Adam for writing this up. You da’ man!.
I ended up driving a truck for another friend, that stole one of his trucking accounts, and I lost touch of him. Couple years back, that friend informed me, Breeze took his own life on a Christmas Eve, he was 65. Miss ya’, buddy,,
Oh, 1 more thing, ’65 was the last year for the panhead, and I, and others, have not so fond memories of these bikes, if it didn’t start on the 2nd kick, might be a while. Let’s say I waited until all the Harleys were running before I started my GW. Electric start changed everything for Harley. It opened up the world of biking to women, who previously, had a tough time kicking these to start. If you knew a gal that could kick start a Harley, you better have married her!
Had a ’70 B&W Electra Glide. The neighbor up the street was retiring and was going to RV around the country, so the HD needed to go. Only 11k miles in 20 years. Rode it for 5 years and traded it in for a new Triumph in ’96. The HD got attention and the Triumph didn’t. Still looking for it years later. I’ve been packing around all this paperwork for it hoping to find the current owner. (WA license plate CH 600)
Still got my 81 FXE Super Glide Shovelhead, starter works half of the time but otherwise you got to kick it. Gets harder every year but can still do it luckily! Gonna take it out this weekend for a putt!
I own a 74 super glide FXE. haven’t tried to kick it in a couple years. got rid of all the solenoids and cables with a lever action starter; only problem? the little arm that works it vibrated out. (Harley go figure) I have a bolt in its place. works. looks like crap though. can’t find a new one?
My dearly departed mother is coming back from the grave holding a Crucifix in front of me as I covet yet another treasure from the past.
A bone stock Generator-Shovelhead. I can only dream of something like this coming to my place.
This joins the ranks of the ’38 Ford pickup and ’69 Chevelle 300 as my most desireable treasures. If I had this on my driveway I’d probably never complain again.
Cosmetic restoration would be the order of the day for this beast. There’s some aluminum that is showing the weather and needs to be polished up. I actually did that to my FX when it was just past the 50K mile mark. Made it look like a new (almost) machine.
If this came my way I’d likely install an electronic regulator and retire that 2-unit regulator that tends to succumb to the vibration and arc the points shut when you don’t want them to do so.
Generator systems worked okay, back in the day but they were tempramental at best. Every time you disconnected the battery you risked the generator “forgetting” which way it was supposed to charge and it could charge backwards when you connected the cables. Consequently you needed to polarize its memory by shorting between the Battery and Generator/Armature terminals on the regulator. The tiny ‘spark’ told you that the generator’s memory was jogged and you could go for a long pleasant ride.
Of course there was always that elephant in the room. Sometimes when you polarized the generator you would get a feedback through the regulator that would close the points on the cut-out relay, which would arc and weld shut, thus trying to make a motor out of the generator, and burn your generator (and wiring) to a crisp if you ignored it.
I might add that this little tidbit of information applies to anything with a generator and a point-type regulator.
Anyways, I wouldn’t hesitate to take one of these on a trip across the country. Even in my 70s…
Never complain again,,I’d like to believe that, I really would. I think about something like this, but as said elsewhere, in the 60s, we tend to forget what these were really like. Plus, aside from British or a rare Italian, this was all we had. Asian bikes were still these rickety ring dings, or Honda 50s, like mine, and posed no threat. British bikes were welcomed with open arms, later on, GoldWings and Italian jobs way in the back.When I say Asian bikes weren’t allowed in HD circles, that’s not entirely true. In our “group”, we had several Asian bikes, a Yamaha Venture, very nice, just no smoky ring dings allowed.
Here( I hope) is a file photo of my FXRT. It was a VERY nice bike, said to be one of Willie Gs favorites. Was totally rebuilt when I got it it(late’99) with some “27” cam(?), and slash pipes, it had PLENTY of steam. Pull the front wheel up, it would. It was too loud for me, and put drilled out Sporty ends on, and was much better. I ended up taking the fairing off, to make it more sporty, and a clear windscreen, and it was, but I should have left it alone. Belt drive aside, which I never had an issue with, but never forgot it was there, I loved that bike. It never failed, the EVO rubber mounted motor was top notch, and my only issue was it had no kick start, but never failed. It clearly dispelled any previous notions about unreliable HDs.
Now,,,my friend,,,can we go back? Lot of nice bikes coming up, this is a bargain here, could we do it? Ride off into the sunset in blaze of glory? Only one way to find out,,,,dang, there he goes, Howard actually did it,,,,,maybe.
Dear staff, please find out why my previous comment doesn’t show. It did, but I made a correction and now it doesn’t. That’s very frustrating, btw.
That happened to me twice on this post. They must not have liked the picture…
Oh man I love this one. It looks like a lot of the bikes in Danny Lyon’s biker photos from the mid ’60s (eg look up his photos of Johnny Davis or Brucie Walver to see what I mean).
I have no idea the worth, but if I had the $, I’d just ride it as-is, be a careful steward until such time that it goes on to another caretaker. What a time capsule.
Don’t even wash it. I have a 64 Duo-Glide, never washed it, except to remove the caked on road dirt from the constant loss primary oiler. You don’t have the oiler adjusted right it dumps oil all over everything and bleeds the engine out. This shovel is so modern in comparison. Foot shift vs tank shift, electric start vs kick only. Wish mine had push button start sometimes but then if I can’t kick start it maybe I should be in the old folks home. 12 volt vs 6. Don’t do anything to the tins, don’t even think about a repaint just ride it and enjoy it for what it is.
Oh boy! lot of hipe over an ol peace of tired iron.. Ya got to remember one thing, back in “67” there was still real men out there, and you had no option if you were a die hard H-D cat, you knew no better. Yup this was state of the art, back in 1967. If you want a bad back, neck that hurts, shoulders hurting, tingly sleeping hands, and walk around like an 80 year old at the gas pump. This is the bike for you.. ;-) This thing in today world would be a great conversation peace, bar hopper, parade bike, or a evening putt around the cabbage patch, or putt down to the Brown Bear on Thursday evening for a burger, but there ain’t no way on Gods Green earth, i’m riding that pig cross country.. (Great bike, i hope it finds a good home)
Nice vintage look I’d keep. Not to fond of older Harelys anymore. I have a Iron Head, Rat Rod chopper, that spends more time in the shop then under my butt. Just got it back from shop, 1,200.00… started fine for a month, now it won’t start… No spark… Weeeee… But, hit that starter button on my 2012 Kawasaki 1600, and it’s says, Let’s ride… Every time…
Ah, the old HD. I found sometimes, the starter button, if worn, will short out the coil. Jump right to the starter and see if you have spark. Not sure if you have electronic ignition, it sure helped the British bikes.
I had an ’80 FLH Shovel. Bored out to 100ci. With a S&S Super D carb on it. Good Lord that thing was fast. The shorty straight pipes kept me chatting to the local yokels, though. Sold her for a ’06 Springer Classic, and put Samson Ground Pounders on it. The cops still wanted to talk…Ah, good times!
Please get it out of the yard..sounds like to me 👍😁
The paint is no way original. Yes, I would repaint it, do a service on it and go coast-to-coast! It was made to be ridden!
The old iron takes maintenance, 93 octane fuel, good points and spark, and oxygen….
You have your checklist every time you take er out, but 100 miles on this will give you an appreciation of all the old timers stories…friends made, miles traveled.
I’ve had several motorcycles, and a nice Dyna right now, but the old XLCH is like the ’68 small block chevy…0 to 120 bursts then put it back in the garage…
My first bike (in 1971) was a 1968 BSA 650 Lightning. Three years later got my first HD. A 1968 XLH 900. Loved that HD. Only problem was that it had electric start only. Eventually learned to bump start it. Not the easiest thing to do with a sissy bar on it. Rode it for many years and two wives. Eventually sold it and after many bikes, ended up with a 1971 BMW R60/5 that I still have and ride. The best bike of the bunch by far!
My cousin did that, although his start was a BSA Golden Flash. He rode that to hell and back, then got an HD Superglide which got 30K+ miles before he sold it and went to a shop full of Beemers, a couple of Russian versions of Beemers, with a Norton and a Triumph included in the mix. And, oh yes, a Triumph TR-3 Sports Car.
I’m guessing the red is original and all of the other ugly stuff was added later.
For me personally, too bad it’s not a ‘65. Last year of the pans. If you need an electric starter, pick up a Honda. Make sure it’s tuned, spark advance set correctly, one kick and ride off into the sunset. And most women were riding sportsters on weight alone.
As far as ‘67 being the state of the art, just compare prices on a ‘67 vs. ‘65. But if my wallet was light, go for it. Even as a ‘67, nothing beats a sixties Hog.
The only pic I have left of my 68 XLH, was taken about 1975. Why oh why did we let the good ones go?
Ride, Wrench, Repeat. That is your world when you own anything similar to this FL. Learned the hard way after “commuting” with my ’75 Ironhead. The ride to work was great but too many trailer tows to get back home finally made me upgrade (still miss it tho). Found what I was looking for in a 2008 Road King. Electronic ignition was created for a reason, now i make it home without cursing. Previous owner did a couple upgrades and I’ve followed his lead to capture the classic old school look that Harley wisely never strayed too far from. Hats off to whoever buys it, It’ll be work keeping it on the road, and frustrating at times but when it’s good, it’ll be awesome.
I guess I’ll chime in with my 2-wheelers, now long gone. In the 70’s, I rode a 250cc Honda Elsinore dirt bike. Lots of good Sunday morning memories group riding through undeveloped land not far from where I lived. All condo’s now, sigh.
In later years, I discovered Kawasaki Vulcans. The first was a 1500cc carburated, the next was a 1500cc FI. The last bike shown here was Kawasaki’s VN2000….amazingly smooth and powerful for a 2cylinder rocket!
Had to sell it…Explained it as, “my guardian Angels were tired of chasing me”.
The Shovel Head made the most beautiful sounds when you were riding and it really appreciated the 5th gear Harley finally gave the bike
Yes, I loved the clamor of my engine. I can’t say I was too fussy to hear the “clanking” noises when my front exhaust rocker broke. But luckily that was less than a block from my garage and it was the first day of riding season. Other than that one failure that bike stayed together for 75K miles. And for almost 30K more until a ring land failed and the pistons had to be replaced…
If I’m not mistaken, I think Harley patented that sound and why all other Vtwins don’t/can’t sound like a Harley.
“This listing was ended by the seller on Sun, Jul 5 at 11:02 AM because the item is no longer available.”