Canadian military numbers

[nmaineron]

My first post and I am hoping my neighbors to the north can help me out.I live in northern Maine and a bike I was looking at yesterday had some funky numbers.This bike is supposed to be a 65 in a straight leg frame looking like a 48 Pan.Nice job too! the trouble is that the numbers on the engine go 65 WLG---- when they should be 65FL----.When I questioned the seller he said that he had bought it from a guy who brought it over from Canada and says that the numbers were Canadian Military stampings. No one believes this story but I would really like to prove it right or wrong before casting a bad vote.Is there such a thing Canadian?thanks ron

[Motorcycle Forum]

[slozomby]

some googleing lead me to a WLG designator as a military model from the 40's specifically in canada. i found an owners manual for one for sale. best info i can find indicates they were produced from '41-'52
here's the picture i found of one.

[DrBob]

The only Harley engine case with a "WLG" stamped on it would be a 45 inch flathead out of the above mentioned sub-model of the Canadian version of the WLA military model, which would never have a "65" for the year and no one would ever mistake a flathead for a panhead. The only other Harley model with a "65" and a "G" in the engine serial number is the servi-car, and the "G" would be in the third digit, not the 5th, and again, it would not be a panhead, it would be a flathead motor.
If the motor is indeed a 1965 Pan then the serial number should be 65FL or 65FLH followed by either 4 or 5 digits, with the first digit being an odd number (1,3,5,7,9) if there are 4 digits, and the first 2 being an odd number (11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, etc) if there are 5 digits.

As for the Canadian Military stamping story, the simple fact is that Harley never made a military machine with a panhead motor, and the only military bike Harley made at all during the 1950s and 1960s was a small run of XLAs, which were Sportsters modified for military police duty, and the last one of those came off the line in 1963- not that anyone could confuse a Sportster motor with a panhead. As far as I can tell the Canadian military did not buy any of these, or Harleys at all in the 1960s. Not that the military would have come up with their own engine serial numbers anyways, as the motors all came from the HD factory in WI and carried HD engine numbers- the Canadian military PAINTED a military serial number onto the sheetmetal, and then stamped the HD engine serial number onto the frame so they would track the vehicle better throughout its service life. They did not get blank engine cases and stamp their own numbers on them as the seller is trying to tell you in this tall tale.

So I would wager that either someone replaced the left engine case and quite incorrectly forged the engine number to hide it, or they made up their own engine number because the motor is out of a bike that was stolen or had other title issues.

I would bet money that the current owner does not have a title and registration for it- am I right?

I would not touch this bike- pans are not hard to find, so get one with a clean title and the correct stampings.