TWO intrinsically American worlds are about to collide at the Mecum Indy 2023 Auction, as a Harley Davidson FLH formerly owned by Elvis Presley is about to go under the hammer.
If you were to play a word association game with the general public, and simply asked them to say the first words they thought of relating to America, it’s highly like that H-D and the man they called the King would be fairly frequent answers. And while Elvis has since departed this realm (or planet as some believe) his legacy lives on and he’s still seen as an icon of the American people. Parallels then can be drawn between Presley and the American brand Harley-Davidson, which this year is celebrating its 120th anniversary with parties at home in Milwaukee and in Budapest.
Now, one of the American singer's bikes is coming up for auction, as the Mecum Indy 2023 sale includes this 1976 FLH Bicentennial in its catalogue. The bike is lot S228 and is reported to be the last Harley-Davidson motorcycle he bought before passing away in August 1977. After his death, the bike was apparently sold to a hotel owner who used it as a promotional tool. The bike was then consigned to the Pioneer Museum in Murdo, where it became one of the highlights of the collection.
The bike is no stranger to the auction block either, having passed across it at an auction in 2022. On that occasion, it made $800,000, despite initial estimates putting the bike in the $2 million range.
Now though the bike needs to find a new home, and with just 1,261 miles on the clock, and the link to Elvis Presley as his last purchased motorcycle, specialists are touting this as a potential record-breaking bike for a Harley-Davidson sold at auction. If it does break records, it’ll be taking the top spot from a Harley-Davidson Strap Tank model, which sold for around $1 million at another Mecum sale at the beginning of the year.
Understandably, Harley was in its heyday at the time of Presley’s reign at the top of the charts, and The king was also a keen fan of the all-American motorcycle maker. He owned a string of their bikes. It’s even reported that he rushed to his nearest dealer to buy his first Harley the second his first recording contract was signed!
To view this lot for yourself, head over to the official Mecum website.
