Elvis Presley & His Lost Harley (No.3) Motorcycle.

Urban Legend or Not? You Decide...........I was told this story quite some time ago and have decided to share my fictionalised version of it with you all!

"What you've got a Harley" he said "You lucky bastard! not a Harley"

His boss and friend nodded happily.

"Well I'll be b.......d!. You know I've always wanted a Harley." envy and longing crept into his voice.

Saturday arrived and with it the Sydney papers, skimming through the For Sale section he found the part devoted to motor bikes and there for private sale was an older type bike, a '60s Harley. But a Harley whatever its age is still a Harley; something of mechanical beauty. Jack rang and made the appropriate arrangements to drive up from Queanbeyan to inspect it.

As the old guy wheeled it out of the garage, he said, that whoever had previously owned the bike had kept it in good nick, but as both he and the bike were getting on a bit he had not been able to give it the care it deserved, so rather sadly he had decided to sell it. In fact it really needed to be stripped down and properly serviced. Jack agreed that he'd make servicing a priority.

The bike was duly bought and paid for. The price was not huge especially in comparison to the later models, but Jack could now say he owned a Harley Davison motorbike.

A few weeks went by and Jack got stuck into stripping the bike down to give it a complete overhaul. He had been hard at it for a week or two, when he pulled the chassis down to rub back the metal plate with the manufacturers' number on it. To his great disbelief under all the grime and dirt the number engraved on it had a well known name as a prefix , Elvis followed by a number - 3. Shaking with disbelief he looked again, then again, and sure enough there it was Elvis - 3.

Grabbing the yellow pages he hunted through the book for the larger motor bike sales and service agencies in the ACT. After nervously dialling the numbers of a couple of shops in Fyshwick he asked about the likelihood of his find being genuine. Must have been a high likelihood as one shop offered him a hundred grand on the spot. A tempting offer but Jack took a rain check advising that he would ring back the next day. Lock it up they said, don't tell anyone about your find they said.

Racing home after work he opened an icy cold tinny and while reflecting on his good fortune it came to him that there could be a market for his bike in the home of the Harley in the US of A.

International directories placed his call and soon he was in touch with the Harley Museum where unbelievably there were four Elvis motor bikes on permanent show. Elvis - 1, Elvis - 2, Elvis -4 and Elvis - 5. The curator of the Museum told him how they had scoured the world for the missing bike, Elvis - 3, to no avail. And how incredibly and to Jack's immense delight, it has now turned up in Australia after a couple of decades on awol.

Sounds too good to be true - and it comes (both bike and story) from country NSW in Australia many miles from the home of Elvis!

copyright a.a.gallagher