Combat Wraith 132ci
In 2018, Confederate Motors made waves when America’s largest motorcycle manufacturer south of the Mason-Dixon line rebranded itself as an all-electric luxury bike maker, marking a significant shift away from its original Hellcat, Fighter, Bomber and Wraith ICE products of the past.
Confederate had built 1300 outrageously unconventional high-priced V-twin powercruisers, carving out a discerning clientele which included numerous members of Hollywood’s rich and famous. But after a quarter-of-a-century since its foundation in 1992, it changed name and focus by dropping its range of loud, aggressively-styled V-twin models in favour of the sound of silence, by going all-electric. Doing so while assuming the mantle of early 20th century American motorcycle and aviation pioneer Glenn H. Curtiss, thanks to Confederate president Matt Chambers’ foresight in acquiring the rights to the Curtiss Motorcycle Co. brand in 2011.
But Confederate Motors wasn’t defunct, as Chambers sold that brand to one of its most loyal customers, the multi-faceted Ernest Lee, owner of a Hellcat G2 Speedster and a P51 Fighter. Lee acquired the entire Confederate package – trademark, intellectual property including the designs, frame jigs and goodwill – and after establishing a new factory in which to build them, albeit still in the ex-Louisiana brand’s most recent home in Birmingham, Alabama, in 2021 he restarted manufacture of several of its most iconic models, rebranded under the Combat name to avoid the controversial connotations of the company’s previous moniker. These have included the motorcycle which, for many observers and discerning owners alike, defines Confederate – the radical girder-forked Wraith, that iconoclastic creation of the company’s free-thinking
