Many of you will be aware that Harley Davidson also produced boxer motorcycles during the 2nd world war. They were quite similar to the BMW R71 on which they were based. The US military had ordered 1000 as a ‘trial’ model. The 1942 Harley-Davidson XA (Experimental Army).
The Liberator aka Harley-Davidson WLA proved sufficient for the army and the Jeep was used for the heavier work. So it stayed with those 1000 pieces.
But what some of you may not know is that many years before that, Harley-Davidson also experimented with boxer motorcycles in the 10’s and 20’s of the last century. Only then were the cylinders, as it were, one behind the other instead of left and right next to each other. The Harley-Davidson W Sport-twin.
Above two drawings of the ‘further development’ of this model and below two photos of the W-Model from 1919.
