I've been told that some  older Harley's from the 80's - 90's were sold in Australia with the vin beginning with "1HD" as opposed to "5HD".

Is that right ? I've always been led to believe the vin for an Australian sold Harley was 5HD, and others were complianced imports.

Peter

Thanks guys. Learn something new every day.

I'm thinking of getting an "older' Harley, and - as I've had a recent import myself - just want to make sure of what's what.

A couple of older ones I've looked at are 1HD bikes, so your info is great.

Many thanks,

Peter

From 1981 to present the VIN has been a 17 digit code located on the frame and abbreviated on the engine. In this VIN the first 3 digits are the world manufacturer ID (see list below), the fourth digit is the weight class (see weight class list below). The next two letters are the model designation (see list below), the sixth digit was the engine type (see list below), the seventh digit was the introduction period (see list below), The eighth digit was the VIN check digit which could be 0-9 or X, the next letter was the model year (see list below), the letter after that was the assembly plant (see list below) and the last 6 numbers were the production numbers. If you are looking for information on a specific VIN number on a bike produced after 1981 you can look it up on Harley-Davidson's official VIN search at this link: https://serviceinfo.harley-davidson.com/sip/vehicle/lookup?vin=

Example:

World Mfg. Class Model Engine Intro Check Year Plant Production Number

1HD 1 AA K 1 9 B Y 158126

World Manufacturer ID:

1HD = Manufactured for sale within the United States

5HD = Manufactured for sale outside of the United States

932 = Manufactured in and for sale only in Brazil

MEG = Manufactured in and for sale only in India

(if its a 1HD its made for local USA and then someone has imported it into Aussy)

https://www.tabperformance.com/harley-davidson-vin-reference-guide-s/224.htm

I think 5hd exists for Evo's, I think it applies to a different market though like Asia/Africa or something. 

Then I think there must have been a cross over period somewhere in early 2000's, lots of FB threads about people buying brand new but they're 1HD.

I dont think I've ever read about anyone buying an 04-05ish onwards bike and it being a 1HD.

To me it seems like the early 88 cubes where the cross over.

Check this site

By the looks of it, 17 digit VINS have been in use since 2001 and that the 5HD designation appeared then