The collector's market for vintage or classic motorcycles has gone through the roof in recent years. And nowhere more so than in the field of Harley-Davidson. Being one of America’s oldest manufacturers in continuous production has given the brand an unequaled cachet and ensured that values have risen steadily. It helps that Harley-Davidson's history has several clearly defined bookmarks, such as the introduction of the first V-Twin engine and the subsequent arrival of the Knucklehead, WLA, Sportster, Panhead and Shovelhead.

All of these, as well as some later models, make up the majority of collectible models from Harley Davidson. That's our focus for today, as we take you through some H-D bikes every collector dreams of owning. Some are cheap, some are pricey, but all are 100 percent iconic!

In order to give you the most up-to-date and accurate information possible, the data used to compile this article was sourced from various manufacturer websites and other authoritative sources, including www.motorcyclespecs.co.za and www.mecum.com.

10 Harley-Davidson XLCH Sportster

Price Guideline: $8,000-10,000

By the 1950s, British bikes were murdering home-grown American motorcycles in terms of performance and sales, as well as being much more compact and handling infinitely better. Dealers were demanding a bike that could compete on equal terms, so Harley hit back with the Sportster in 1957. Outwardly, the Sportster had a completely new engine but, in actual fact, it was a flat-head Model K with overhead valve cylinder heads grafted on, fitted into a Model K chassis. The original displacement of 883cc will strike a chord with many of today’s Sportster owners.

Sales were sluggish, however, and dealers sent Harley back to the drawing board to produce something lighter still and more sporty-looking, with a smaller gas tank and bobbed fenders. The rest is history as the Sportster became Harley’s longest-running model, remaining in production until 2022. It's a collectible due to its importance in Harley Davidson's history.

Performance Specifications

(Specs sourced from www.motorcyclespecs.co.za)

9 Harley-Davidson XLCR

Price Guideline: $12,000-14,000

The café racer, as defined by British motorcyclists, was a stripped-down production bike, with style, lightness, and performance uppermost in mind. Now, with the best will in the world, a Harley-Davidson can only be described as a heavy piece of equipment, and that includes the Sportster, upon which the XLCR is based.

A stock Sportster, fitted with a bikini fairing, single-seat, racing tank, and dropped handlebars was never going to be anything but a stock Sportster with some racy-looking goodies bolted on and was no sports bike, despite the name. But there’s no denying that the XLCR looked great, even if it sold only around 1000 examples a year for the three years of its existence. It was also one of the very few factory café racers, several decades before the Triumph Thruxton brought the style back into fashion.

Performance Specifications

(Specs sourced from www.motorcyclespecs.co.za)

8 Harley-Davidson Servi-Car

Price Guideline: $14,000

In order to survive the Great Depression, Harley-Davidson was desperate to increase sales and the inventive engineers came up with the Servi-Car, a three-wheeled, practical utility vehicle. It was targeted at the automotive service industry, being designed to assist in roadside breakdowns and even for delivering cars to customers. A tow-bar fitted to the front meant that the Servi-Car could be towed behind the car being delivered and then ridden back to the dealership by just one person, saving time and money. It also found a ready audience in small businesses, who used it for deliveries and as mobile vendor vehicles. The concept lives on today in the form of the Tri Glide model.

Performance Specifications

(Specs sourced from www.motorcyclespecs.co.za)

7 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide

Price Guideline: $15,000-20,000

The foundation of the fully-dressed Harley touring bike that is such a mainstay of production today. The Electra Glide was still technically a Panhead, but the style was completely different. Harley tackled head-on the aftermarket suppliers selling touring accessories by the bucket load to Panhead owners to make them more practical for long-distance travel. The FLH (‘H’ for Highway) got a 12-volt electrical system and a larger (5-gallon) gas tank as well as a “King of the Highway” option package. It included hard saddlebags, a removable windshield, a luggage rack, and plenty of chrome embellishment.

It also got electric starting, which might sound quaint today but, at the time, it was a huge leap forward: it was only about that time that the Japanese started fitting electric start to its small-displacement models. Whereas, the British and the rest of the European industry took another ten years to start thinking about it.

Performance Specifications

(Specs sourced from www.motorcyclespecs.co.za)

6 Harley-Davidson WLA

Price Guideline: $18,000

In the pantheon of legendary Harley-Davidson models, the WLA might not have as much currency as the famed Knucklehead. But it is just as important in the general history of the company as the 70,000 or so produced during World War 2 ensured the prosperity of the company after the war had ended. Not to mention, being important in the rise of biker culture post-war, as returning GIs would acquire surplus WLAs and customize, or ‘bob’ them.

The WLA was powered by the latest development of the flathead engine, with higher compression - although still only 5:1 (allowing the use of poor quality gasoline). It was widely adopted by the U.S. armed forces, as well as being exported in large numbers to Russia, UK, and South Africa. Today, any WLA - in standard military trim or ‘bobbed’ - is becoming increasingly important to collectors.

Performance Specifications

(Specs sourced from www.motorcyclespecs.co.za)

5 Harley-Davidson VR1000

Price Guideline: $20,000-30,000

Evidence of Harley’s new-found success and drive came in the form of the startling VR1000. Racing sells, so we are told, but Harley didn’t take the easy route and concentrated solely on flat-track racing. No, the intention was to enter the American AMA Superbike championship.

To do this, a new 1,000cc, liquid-cooled, fuel-injected, 135-horsepower engine mounted in an aluminum twin-spar frame was conceived and built in sufficient numbers to qualify for the series. However, despite work commencing in 1991, the VR1000 didn’t appear until 1994, by which time it was underpowered compared to its rivals. The concept soldiered on until 2001 and was then dropped. But it showed that Harley-Davidson was prepared to look seriously at liquid cooling, as the next model proved, and today, the VR1000 is a much sought-after model.

Performance Specifications

(Specs sourced from www.motorcyclespecs.co.za)

4 Harley-Davidson EL Knucklehead

Price Guideline: $60,000

In 1936, the valves in the V-Twin engine changed to an overhead position, as opposed to the previous side-valve designs. The EL was also the bike that began the tradition - among Harley enthusiasts, at least - of naming the engines and, by extension, the whole bike, after the shape of the valve cover designs. The ‘Knucklehead’ was the distinctive result and the engine was a leap ahead in terms of performance.

It featured hemispherical combustion chambers and the power output was a significant improvement at 40 horsepower. 61 cubic inches at first, but then a 74 cubic inch (1,200cc) version appeared in 1941. Despite the advanced engine, the EL still had a foot clutch, hand shift, and a left-hand brake lever. The last motorcycle designed by the original team of the Davidson brothers and William S. Harley, a Knucklehead Harley is hugely valuable today and, some maintain, the best Harley ever!

Performance Specifications

(Specs sourced from www.motorcyclespecs.co.za)

3 Harley-Davidson XR750

Price Guideline: $50,000-60,000

According to experts, the Harley Davidson XR750 is the most successful racing machine (on two wheels or four) ever produced. After all, between 1972 and 2008, the XR750 won 29 of the 37 AMA Grand National Championships, winning more races than any other in AMA racing. In the late 1960s, the AMA changed the rules for racing, allowing Japanese and British motorcycles to compete on a level playing field with Harley-Davidson's KR model. Harley’s response was the XR750, powered by a modified version of the Sportster engine, with overhead valves. It might not be particularly rare, but its competition success and significance in the history of Harley-Davidson ensures it a place on any list of collectible Harleys.

Performance Specifications

(Specs sourced from www.motorcyclespecs.co.za)

2 Any Single-Cylinder Harley-Davidson Model

Price Guideline: $200,000-up

As an extension of the above, all early Harley-Davidsons were powered by single-cylinder engines. Harley introduced its first V-Twin engine in 1907, but few were sold before 1910 (the majority of production to that point being of 500cc single-cylinder models). Having said that, production numbers in the early years were minute (only 37 bikes built in 1907, for example), so even the fact that early bikes are not V-Twins makes little to no difference in terms of their value today. Largely driven by their rarity, which sadly means that very few will ever be ridden. As an indivisible element of Harley-Davidson's history, however, there is no doubting the importance of the single-cylinder Harley models.

Performance Specifications

(Specs sourced from www.motorcyclespecs.co.za)

1 Harley-Davidson ‘Strap Tank’

Price Guideline: Up To $1 million

Given that the vast majority of very early Harley-Davidson models are bought as investments and certainly not to ride, then what collector wouldn’t want what is, at the time of writing, the most expensive motorcycle ever to be sold at auction? In 2023, a 1908 Harley-Davidson ‘Strap Tank’ model sold for $935,000 when auctioned by Mecum at its Las Vegas sale. It was one of only 450 motorcycles manufactured in 1908 by H-D and, undoubtedly, one of only a handful to survive, making it incredibly rare and surely something of a holy grail to collectors.

Even the fact that the motorcycle had been completely restored and had therefore lost all of its original patina didn’t affect the sale price. To illustrate this, a similar model from 1907, when the company manufactured only 37 motorcycles, in completely original condition, sold for ‘only’ $715,000 a few years earlier. There is no accounting for taste!

Performance Specifications

(Specs sourced from www.motorcyclespecs.co.za)