This VW-Powered Cruiser Was A Nightmare For Harley-Davidson

[Bob Riebe]

https://www.topspeed.com/this-vw-powered-cruiser-was-a-nightmare-for-harley-davidson/

The 1950s were tough times for Harley-Davidson as the brand’s Panhead-powered cruisers were nowhere near as robust, reliable, or efficient as other bikemakers. At the same time, the cruiser market was flouring in America, and enthusiasts direly needed a powerful cruiser to enjoy. The solution came in the form of the Webley-Vickers cruiser that looked as gorgeous as any American cruiser but employed a Volkswagen boxer engine with better power and efficiency.

The Webley-Vickers cruiser looked tantalizing from afar, but it was a bit of a mixed bag in reality. This is because the cruiser was built around a BMW motorcycle chassis, probably from the R69, which was one of the few production motorcycles with boxer engines. The four-cylinder, 2,000cc Volkswagen boxer engine was a near-perfect fit for the chassis and only required a couple of changes for the conversion.

Seeing this as an opportunity, California’s Dough Whitson purchased the tooling and parts from early developer Rodger Willis to create the Webley-Vickers. He perfected the design using CAD/CAM to produce aluminum billet bell housing, exhaust manifolds, generator mount, and a more durable clutch. All this was sold as a kit too, in case you wanted to take matters into your own hands.

Besides the mechanicals, the cruiser had an apehanger handlebar and a spring seat for a proper laidback riding triangle. The design was properly American thanks to the extensive use of chrome and the hard panniers sporting Volkswagen badging. The latter not only made the cruiser more practical but helped the Webley-Vickers qualify as a bagger – a popular title at the time. All things considered, it’s safe to say the Webley-Vickers cruiser was one of the most unusual American motorcycles, and thanks to its limited production, it’s a sure-shot collectible. Finding one is hard, but if you look in the right places, you can get lucky, just like we did.

Mecum Auctions has listed a Webley-Vickers cruiser that belonged to the company founder Dough Whitson. The motorcycle is dubbed 1953 (Whitson’s birth year) and served as the founder’s loyal steed for over 45 years. The cruiser in context was also the test mule for Whitson, so it has two S&S carburetors, self-built exhaust manifolds, a reworked BMW gearbox, and more importantly, 24,668km on the odometer as Whitson rode it from Cali to Sturgis many times. Though an auction with no fixed price, we believe a price tag of around $17,500 should be suitable.

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