A century-old motorcycle recently sold at auction for nearly $1 million, making it the most valuable motorcycle ever, but the bike went undiscovered inside a Wisconsin barn until 1941.
The bike is a 1908 Harley-Davidson Strap Tank motorcycle. It sold at the end of January for a whopping $935,000, Mecum Auctions shared in a press release.
The sale makes the motorbike the most valuable ever sold at auction, according to the collector car and vintage motorcycle auction house.
After the bike was discovered in 1941, it was kept in the state for the next 66 years, the release shared. The motorcycle was “expertly restored” to its current condition by Indiana collector Paul Freehill, and it features its original tank, wheels, engine belt pulley, muffler sleeve, and seat cover.
In 1908 Harley-Davidson was nowhere close to the massive motorbike company it is today, and the Strap Tank was one of only 450 motorcycles produced by the company that year, the release shared.
Less than a dozen of the Strap Tanks are believed to have made it to 2023, and even fewer are in the condition of the one recently sold, the listing shared.
The Strap Tank played an essential part in the history of motorbikes. The listing shared that it “established the pattern for all future production, combining a clean yet conservative styling, a somber color scheme, heavy-duty cycle parts and an engine a little bigger and stronger than the rest.”
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