The ceremony begins with opening a utensil called a fuel tap, the elders remember.

Left under the tank.

Right next to it is the slide for the choke, close it completely.

Now pump two or three times with the throttle grip to set the fuel in motion, flap open, flap closed.

The voltage increases.

To switch on the ignition, turn the knob on the top of the tank from the OFF position to the Ignition position.

This is the moment to take a moment to remember.

Walter Wille

"Technology and Motor" editorial team

  • Follow I follow

Press the start button.

The starter rings with the tortured cough of an old smoker.

Organ.

And toggles.

Still playing the organ.

Vrromm!

In an eruption of indignation, angry at the harassment, the 52-year-old machine wakes up, puffing out clouds.

Wropwrop paf!

Badabap badabap badabap.

Welcome to 1969.

Shaking and roaring fill the scene.

More clouds.

Step on the gas to prevent death.

Gradually return the choke gently.

More and more the rumbling and stomping seems to follow a recognizable pattern.

The engine pounds, finds a rhythm.

The idle settles down to a low note: potato potato potato.

Heart rate at rest at five to six hundred revolutions per minute.

The inimitable rumble sound of old Harleys, the result of the 45-degree configuration of the long-stroke V-Twin, only emerges in these low revs. Fire for cylinder 1, bamm !, cylinder 2 right after, bamm! Then a crankshaft revolution break. Then again: babamm !! And keep it up in a stumbling sequence of detonations that produce the sound that deserves to be declared a World Heritage Site. Half a minute after pressing the button, the Harley-Davidson FLH Electra Glide, built in 1969, is ready to go. Ready for take-off.

Apollo 11, Vietnam, flower power, revolt - 1969 was not an ordinary year.

Woodstock, across the Stones and Hells Angels states in Altamont.

"Easy Rider" came to the cinema, Jumbo-Jet and Concorde rose, the Beatles still existed and for the first time the Batwing fairing on the handlebars was an optional extra for the Electra Glide model.

Until then, there was only a window to protect against the wind on the otherwise extremely luxurious flagship of the Motor Company from Milwaukee.

Its name goes back to 1965: by adding an electric starter, the Duo Glide became the Electra Glide, a small step for mankind but a big step for Harley-Davidson.

The E-Glide became the epitome of Grand American Touring, with the bat fairing introduced in 1969, which is still in use today, it rose to become an icon.

The beautiful revival caused a hype

To commemorate 1969, in honor of the then Electra Glide, Harley-Davidson launched a special model called Electra Glide Revival, unit price around 30,000 euros, limited to 1500 units around the world.

Each dealer, 69 in Germany, was given a single copy.

The beautiful revival caused a hype that lasted for weeks.

What finally let the fuses of many admirers fly out was the manufacturer's announcement that after these 1,500 pieces, production would never be restarted.

Dealers were assaulted, kneeled, kneaded and were faced with the task of deciding which of the numerous interested parties could buy one.

Sentimentality may have been the driving force for some, the fact that you were young back then, have seen “Easy Rider” twenty times and sat in front of the tube TV when Armstrong and Aldrin planted the stars and stripes out of focus in black and white.

Or tough calculation, the plan of an investment with the prospect of an immediate increase in value.

In fact, a few specimens at lunar prices quickly appeared in online retail.

A number of revivals should not be moved a meter on the street, but rather disappear into private collections.

With its brilliant lacquer, the new one attracts attention

One or the other will be driven on special occasions. As we did now when the opportunity arose: Matthias Meier, owner of the Factory Group with four Harley bases, and his partner Thomas Trapp mobilized the 69 E-Glide for us, which landed in Germany in a curious way. Classic car expert Trapp discovered the rare item in the window of a motorcycle rental in Denver in 2006 and only didn't buy it because he was in a hurry to fly back to Germany. For this, Meier struck a year later, who, also while returning rental motorcycles, came across the machine independently of Trapp. When Meier and Trapp became business partners in 2010, they discovered that they had been sitting on the same vehicle in Denver without knowing each other.