I still plan to carefully remove layers of paint on the forks and fenders and frame, but it is looking like this was not a Davis Framed Harley originally. It is a 1918 Davis frame and would be a proper frame to build a Harley with, but the "tells" that indicate it was not originally a Harley are
- Fork - A 1918 HD would have had a triple clad fork rather than the Davis honeycomb fork
- Headbadge hole/holes - While there were later HD bottle cap badges the ones in 1918 would have been attached with screws.
While I can find an olive drab paint on the BB, I haven't found it anywhere else. There was another 1918 Davis frame that would have shared this color and had these forks and bottle cap badge. That was a National. So more than likely I have a 1918 National (made by Davis) with a HD chainring. I am disappointed, but not completely surprised. It's still a wicked cool bike.
My Plans:
Remove the paint layers to see if it uncovers any more of the story of the bike.
Since there is not really any original paint other than the BB, my idea is to bring it down to bare metal, then paint of decal a HD badge, and add the typical HD boxed in pinstriping to the bare metal and end up with a bare metal Harley-esque tribute bike.
EDIT: I can't pretend that I found this information on my own. I reached out to the Davis expert over on the CABE, Hoofhearted. Patric has been a wealth of knowledge as well as the huge Davis thread they have over there.
