ford_fan70 wrote:The best news i have heard so far, The more i think about it , if they where replacement cases ,why would they go so high with the vin and would they also stamp belly numbers ,
Scenario 1) These are factory-made cases as part of regular production. The Legend Begins' production figure of 1970 is wrong.
Scenario 2) These are factory-made cases as part of regular production. The factory "number-stamper-guy" was dyslexic, or hung over, and meant to stamp 52 K 2037. But this doesn't explain the high belly numbers.
Scenario 3) If they were replacement cases, they would have belly numbers, but no serial ("VIN") number. What would those belly numbers be? If a dealer ordered a set of replacement cases (I doubt they would stock them) early in the 1952 model year, then the belly numbers would be fairly low numbers, taken from current production. At the end of the model year, Harley may have made additional matched sets of cases to keep on hand as spare parts. If so, these would have belly numbers above the normal range for 1952 production.
So these could be factory belly numbers, but the serial number was "field-fitted". Maybe the field-fitter was dyslexic. If not, why choose a non-existent number? Well, the bike would never be confused with an existing bike, and it would never show up as stolen.
Scenario 4) Total fakes - someone very talented spent a tremendous amount of time and money to "recondition" the numbers on these cases. Not impossible, but more likely on a 1936 Knucklehead (worth like $100K), than on a K-model (worth a whole lot less, unfortunately)
There may be other possibilities. Did you get a title? Do you have any provenance on the bike / engine?
52 K owners - is your serial number above 52 K 2970?