The Harley-Davidson Motor Co Archive Collection - Hardcover

Randy Leffingwell; Darwin Holstrom

4.16

31 ratings by Goodreads

9780760331842: The Harley-Davidson Motor Co Archive Collection

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0760331847 ISBN 13: 9780760331842

Publisher: Motorbooks International, 2008

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The official Harley-Davidson museum will open in 2008, and this magnificent book is the official museum catalogue, showing the hundreds of vintage and modern Harley-Davidsons in stunning color. The full collection has never before been seen by the public, and the history of the world's best-known motorcycle is shown here in page after page of gleaming machines, from the first serial numbers built in 1903 to today's low-slung Softail, high-revving VRSC, and touring models. Full history of each model, technical details, specs, accompany each model shown, capturing the excitement of the best-known motorcycles in the world, sure to be a best-seller and immensely popular with any motorcycle enthusiast!

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Review:

For people unable to visit the new Harley-Davidson Museum that opened earlier this summer, there s good news. Harley-Davidson, with the help of Motorbooks and authors Randy Leffingwell and Darwin Holmstrom, will bring the museum to you. Mohammad s Mountain, if you will, comes in the form of a 408-page book that contains hundreds of stunning photos by ace lensman Leffingwell depicting bikes that will be on exhibit at the museum. These bikes represent Harley-Davidson s 82-year-old H-D Archive Collection. Leffingwell s studio photographs are supplemented with descriptive narrative by Holmstrom. This giant tome also includes genuine house advertisements and clippings from brochures that The Motor Company has circulated during its 105-year history. --IronWork;celebrates the company's sesequicentennial, showcasing the vehicles it has created, along wqith essays and archival photos -- --Publishers Weekly;If you only ever buy one book to give you a feel for what the Motor Company is about, it's this one. A massive tome, and quite possibly the biggest set of library shots of the most complete collection of Harley-Davidson motorcycles ever is reason enough to part with �35, but it's laden with archive information too that will all probably exist somewhere else, but give this book a depth of interest unmatched in my experience. With a foreward by Bill Davidson, it represents unprecedented access to the Harley-Davidson archives where 105 years of history have been deposited by donation, reacquisition or even just straight from the factory floor, and even then its 400+ pages covers less than half of the motorcycles in the collection. You will lose days, sifting through stuff that has been part of the mythology, and poring over images of bikes that you just haven't seen in modern, high-quality photographs before: six pages of the XA flat twin, four of the experimental 1100 OHC model, the XR1000, the Caf� Racer, the first Softail, the original F --Iron works, Sept 2008;If you only ever buy one book to give you a feel for what the Motor Company is about, it's this one. A massive tome, and quite possibly the biggest set of library shots of the most complete collection of Harley-Davidson motorcycles ever is reason enough to part with �35, but it's laden with archive information too that will all probably exist somewhere else, but give this book a depth of interest unmatched in my experience.With a foreward by Bill Davidson, it represents unprecedented access to the Harley-Davidson archives where 105 years of history have been deposited by donation, reacquisition or even just straight from the factory floor, and even then its 400+ pages covers less than half of the motorcycles in the collection. You will lose days, sifting through stuff that has been part of the mythology, and poring over images of bikes that you just haven't seen in modern, high-quality photographs before: six pages of the XA flat twin, four of the experimental 1100 OHC model, the XR1000, the Caf� Racer, the first Softail, the original Fat Boy and V-Rod. There are racers ancient and modern, silly little two step-thrus and cute fifties two strokes, Topper scooters and Servicars, sidecars and golf carts, the factory Snowmobile and a Harley-powered ice racer and as if to spite those who have always believed that Harley-Davidson was always embarrassed by the lifestyle side of their customer base, replicas of Captain America and Billy's recreated in the late nineties, and even ;Boozefighter; bike created by the archives staff with permission from the club. You'll discover that Harley made bicycles, that the XR1200 doesn't yet fit into an Americanised history, as well as how the pictures were taken and that even the best photographers make mistakes I can rest easy now, because I've found it --American V, october 2008;Monster selection book- --Classic Bike Guide, March 2009

Harley-Davidson has a rich history behind it and this is celebrated in the magnificent The Harley-Davidson Motor Co. Archive Collection. Consisting of more than 400 pages and a foreword from Bill Davidson, this book has at least one vehicle from each model year and many more that have never been seen by the general public before. --Harley-Davidson ezine Uk, July 2009

I honestly thought I would never buy another Harley-Davidson book. I thought I had seen and read everything there was to see and read about the Motor Co. I was wrong; the amazing collection of motorcycles photographed for this book is the equivalent of finding photographic proof of the Loch Ness monster, Sasquatch, the Yeti, and the little gray space aliens who crashed at Roswell all in one volume. Think about it--this book includes a Nova touring bike. Prior to the opening of its museum, Harley-Davidson would not even admit the Nova existed, much less allow it to be photographed. It has an XA sidecar rig with a driven sidecar wheel. Make that it has the XA sidecar rig with a driven sidecar wheel, since the Motor Co. only built one for evaluation, and this is that one. It has Harley-Davidson serial number one: the very first Harley-Davidson motorcycle ever built. How would a person put a price on a bike like that? It's literally priceless, since the only way to purchase that bike would be to purchase every share of Harley-Davidson stock on the market and buy out the owners. But it's in here, in heart-stoppingly beautiful photogrpahy. The text is good, too. You'll buy this for the photos, but even though it's brief, the history presented here is filled with new, previously unpublished information. Now I will not buy another Harley book. There's no need to; this one has everything a Harley fan will ever need. --Rider Boy;What it IS: This book is a high-quality, comprehensive 'catalog' of Harley-Davidson's motorcycle collection, much of which is on display at the new museum. Extensive descriptive notes accompany each entry, and the photos are stunning. Because the collection itself is extensive and this book covers all of it, this single volume covers more HD topics like engines, frames, company history and marketing, etc. than any book out there. While this would make an excellent coffee table book, it is actually much more, and I've spent many hours reading through it. Between the quality and coverage you can't go wrong. This is the HD history book to buy. Amazon's price is excellent - I doubt you will find better.- --New England Yankee Rider , July 2009

From the Back Cover:

Since its earliest days, the Harley-Davidson Motor Co. has saved examples of nearly every motorcycle it has ever built. The resulting Archive Collection is the most important motorcycle collection on earth. In over 600 studio portraits, Harley-Davidson and master photographer Randy Leffingwell present this historically significant collection of production models, racing bikes, and one-of-a-kind prototypes.

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