Rodney C. Gott Museum

Rodney C. Gott Museum

DESTINATIONS

York, Pennsylvania

NEVER, EVER CONSIDERED GOing to a Harley-Davidson factory, eh? Well, there’s a pretty good reason for visiting the one in York, Pennsylvania, because this one is the home of the Rodney C. Gott Museum, which contains 33 of the motorcycles that made Milwaukee famous.

Naturally, some are late bikes. But of greater interest are the early, rare ones, the earliest of which is a gleaming 1906 Single. You want race bikes? Joe Petrali’s streamlined 1936, 136-mph, land-speed-record bike is on display, as is the late Cal Rayborn’s XR750, the first bike ever to do a 100-mph lap at Daytona. There’s even Walter Villa’s RR250 two-stroke, liquid-cooled, honest-to-Harley roadracer.

But the museum is as important for the story it tells as for the equip-

ment it contains. That story is of the evolution of the Harley line and of the V-Twin engines that have powered it. You’ll see engines from the earliest Flatheads through the Kmodels, the Knuckleheads, the Panheads, the Shovelheads and the Blockheads, and you'll see the reasons for those descriptive monikers. On display is a l 958 DuoGlide purportedly just like one owned by El vis, as well as prewar and wartime Harleys and an example of the late, great Harley Hummer.

Entrance to the museum is free, so next time you're checking out the Gettysburg Civil War battlefield, just remember that York, and the Gott Museum, is just 30 miles away. It’s worth the time, and you can't beat the price. —Jon F. Thompson

Information

Rodney C. Gott Museum 1425 Eden Road York, PA 17402 717/848-1177