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Back at the beginning of the last century, in 1901, Mr. Harley and Mr. Davidson began tinkering with engines in order to motorize a bicycle. In 1903, after going back to the drawing board a few times, they produced their first “motorcycle.” They weren’t the first to produce a motorcycle but their determination and mechanical savvy started a company that, one hundred years later, is celebrating its centennial anniversary.
FM has put together another diorama to commemorate Harley-Davidson’s landmark achievement. The display: Unlike “The Garage” and “The Softail Garage” dioramas, there’s no interior detail – probably because details of the interior of the first H-D workshop are lost to antiquity. Nonetheless, the nicely detailed exterior view provides a nostalgic backdrop for the motorcycle. The cycle: As we’ve come to expect, the 1:10 scale motorcycle is a wealth of detail. With many movable pedals, levers and a spring-loaded, real leather seat, no detail seems to have been overlooked. When the pedals are rotated, the entire drive assembly rotates. Even the “chain” meshes with the teeth of the sprockets! All in all, this image is a fine presentation of one of the “launch-points” of transportation history.
I’ve been hoping one of the mints would do a 1:10 scale replica of one of the first Harleys. That FM chose to do a complete diorama, seems to be appropriate and fitting. After all, it’s the 100th birthday of “America's Motorcycle.” The issue price is $195.
(02/15/2003)
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