A MAN who found a meteorite in his back garden has swapped it for a Harley-Davidson.

Jim Griffey, 63 from Cabot, Arkansas, was using a hole-boring tool in preparation to plant trees in his back garden when he hit a rock. He dug the rock out and tossed it aside.

Later on he went back to inspect the rock: "I've got a few interesting rocks in my shed. One has some fossils in it another is some fool's gold," said Griffey.

After looking at the strange rock, he grabbed a magnet to see if was metal: "The dang magnet shot right to it. I'm pretty sure it charged the magnet," Griffey said.

Because of his love of motorcycles, Griffey called his local Harley-Davidson dealer, Landers Harley Davidson, to see if they would trade the rock for a motorcycle.

Griffey said: "You know I don't mind taking an old Harley that will smoke cause I'm 63 and I smoke a little bit too."

Quite bizarrely, the local dealer said yes and Griffey will pick up his new motorcycle in exchange for the meteorite. Not bad for a morning's work.