FRED WARR 1929-2022
It was with regret that we learned of the death of Frederick Howard Warr, known to the world as Fred. Fred was involved with motorcycles all his life – indeed, his father ran a motorcycle dealership and repair shop on the King’s Road in London – and by the time he joined the RAF at the age of 18 he was already a keen motorcyclist. He had a passion for Harley-Davidsons which would last him his life and was no doubt driven by the fact he had grown up around American V-twins, his father being an official Harley dealer since before Fred was born.
After serving his time in the RAF he worked with his father, repairing and selling ex-military WL750 Harleys which were being sold off at government auctions. Fred would buy in bulk and then ‘civilianise’ the bikes with colourful paint jobs; due to post-war trade restrictions new Harley-Davidsons were not available, so he found an enthusiastic market.
In 1949 Fred became a founding member of the Harley-Davidson Riders Club of Great Britain, but it wasn’t until the early 1950s he decided that the family business should specialise exclusively in the Milwaukee product and for that he would need new motorcycles.
He travelled to America where he met with William H Davidson and, after much lobbying of HM Government and the US senate, Fred was finally granted a restricted import licence. In 1956 the first new civilian Harley-Davidsons to be imported into the UK in almost 20 years arrived at Warr’s King’s Road dealership.
In the 1960s, the King’s Road was the heart of fashionable ‘swinging London’ and the Warr Harley dealership was a trendy place to be seen. With all things American fashionable, Fred supplied motorcycles for many films and even appeared in some, although you might not recognise him. In the cult classic Girl on a Motorcycle, Fred stood in for Marianne Faithfull in the riding shots, wearing tight white leathers and a long blonde wig!
Not only was Fred an accomplished rider and racer, he had an almost supernatural understanding and knowledge of the workings of Harleys. In the early 1970s he worked alongside the factory race team on preparation of the winning transatlantic match race bikes for H-D factory rider Cal Rayborn and in 1976 he was also involved in the preparation of the XR750 that Evel Knievel used to jump over 13 London buses at Wembley Stadium.
He stepped back from the business in 1986, following the death of Rita, his wife of 31 years, but not away from motorcycles. He rode the length of Britain for charity on a vintage 1916 Harley and also took part in the Mille Miglia endurance rally through Italy on a wartime WL750. Diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in his mid-seventies, Fred travelled to China for radical treatments which he insisted had curtailed the spread of the disease and allowed him many more years. He spent those years building, restoring and supplying parts and much knowledge for vintage Harleys and their owners. To Patricia, Theresa, John and Robert, we send our condolences. Safe home, Fred. Safe home.