IN 1959, the Honda Motor Company was the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world, building 500,000 motorcycles per year. Most of these were small utilitarian machines for the Asian market. Sochiro Honda, the founder and head of this corporation, formed an ambitious plan to sell motorcycles in America. Mr. Honda believed that acceptance in the American market would foster worldwide acceptance of Honda motorcycles.
The entry into the US market was as carefully planned as a military campaign. An office was rented in Los Angeles, specific models that would interest Americans were chosen, and salespeople traveled all over the country, pitching the idea of selling Honda lightweights to sporting goods shops and hardware stores. Honda made sure its prospective dealers projected a positive, customer-friendly image. By the end of 1960, Honda had seventy-four dealers across the United States.
Honda saw the poor image of motorcycling in America as the largest impediment to sales, and decided to change American’s perception of motorcycles. It launched the “You meet the nicest people on a Honda” campaign. The marketing effort worked, and motorcycles had become acceptable to large segments of the American population by 1965.
Harley-Davidson was an unintended beneficiary of the Honda marketing effort. After the introduction of the higher-compression 74-cubic-inch FLH in 1955 and 1958’s introduction of rear suspension on the previously rigid-framed Panhead, very little was done to upgrade the Harley lineup. Consistent, but low, sales did not encourage innovation.
The sons and daughters of the people who had made it through the Depression and World War II were now young teens, and were starting to explore their world. The Honda Nicest People campaign awakened these young people to the possibilities inherent in two wheels and a motor. They quickly learned that motorcycles were made by other companies besides Honda, and one was actually based in the United States. The fact that Harley-Davidsons had an aura of “Not Being Quite Nice” was very attractive to rebellious teenagers.
In 1958, Harley-Davidson finally put rear suspension on its Big Twin. This bike has the Panhead motor that Harley used to power its twins until 1965. The couple are sitting on a Buddy Seat, a large saddle with room for two friendly people who get to the gym on a regular basis.
Harley-Davidson’s sales numbers started rising, and the electric starter added in 1965 to the Panhead—often known as the Big Twin to differentiate it from the Sportster and the lightweights—attracted new blood to the Harley fold. In 1965, Harley sold over 25,000 motorcycles, although close to half of these were Aermacchi lightweights. The company was having trouble raising the capital to upgrade its products and to increase production to meet demand. The corporation went public and sold some stock to the general public.
The money raised was used to put a new top end on the venerable Panhead and speed up the Sportster. The new rocker boxes on the Big Twin (which soon gained it the nickname “Shovelhead”) enclosed the valve gear and improved cooling, but further upgrades were needed. Although sales were reaching World War II levels, the shareholders were not happy. At the end of 1968, Harley was bought out by American Machine and Foundry, otherwise known as AMF.
Harley has been building three wheelers since late 1932. Powered by a version of the 45.32-cubic-inch (742.65 cc) sidevalve engine used on Harley’s midweight motorcycles, the Servi-Car has always been popular with police departments for traffic control.
This was the sport version of the 250 cc Aermacchi Sprint, a single-cylinder four-stroke imported from Italy. It was a peppy motorcycle, and is today used for vintage racing.
AMF pumped a lot of money into Harley-Davidson. One of the first new products—introduced in 1970—was the XR-750, a racer with iron barrels and heads, the old road-racing frame, racing cams and a racing magneto. The iron version of the XR didn’t win a lot of races, but provided a test bed for further upgrades. The same year saw an alternator installed in the Big Twin, replacing the generator which had close to vintage status at that point.
Harley-Davidson Aermacchi lightweights: a 1960s 125 cc Rapido in the foreground, with a 1970s version in the back. Harley re-sold Aermacchi in 1978 to the Italian Cagiva group.
Custom 1977 Big Twin belonging to Joel Selcrist. The factory has always encouraged customers to rework their motorcycles to their taste, and sells a lot of parts and accessories for customizing efforts. A very large percentage of the Harley-Davidsons now on the road look nothing like they did when they were built. This bike has stock fenders and tanks, an aftermarket carburetor and air cleaner, and an early-1950s-style muffler.
The first Super Glide appeared in 1971. Up to this point, Harley management had tried to stay as far from the “one percent” crowd as possible. After all, the “one percenters” had caused their product—a product they were very proud of—to be socially unacceptable. These riders (“1 per cent of all motorcyclists”) owned motorcycles with extended forks, looked evil, and scared people. However, Willie G. Davidson, a grandson of the founders, was in charge of the styling department. He spent a lot of time going to shows and rallies, and realized that there were a lot of perfectly decent people out there who wanted to look like pirates, and were interested in buying a new motorcycle that looked like the bikes the pirates rode. The actual “one percenters” mostly built their own bikes, sometimes with stolen parts.
This 1977 Big Twin is powered by an alternator Shovelhead engine. The alternator is behind the cone-shaped cover to the lower left. A beefy oil pump is next to it. Above the oil pump are the chrome covers for the pushrods that operate the valve rockers behind the shovel-shaped rocker-box covers. S&S is an old-time accessory house that now manufactures complete powertrains for custom motorcycles.
The Super Glide had a Sportster front end, a two-into-one exhaust, and a boat-tail tailpiece with a separate fender under the seat. It was extremely popular, and the concept was expanded over the next several years.
A year after the Super Glide rollout, the alloy XR flat-tracker turned up on racetracks all over America and started winning. Harley was back racing.
Unfortunately, AMF also thought it knew how to run a motorcycle factory. “Scientific management” was in vogue (and, on the other side of the Atlantic, helped to kill BSA) and all sorts of scientific managers turned up at the Milwaukee factory and started telling people with decades of experience what to do. Quality control went down the drain, some of the best people quit, and the unions went on strike in 1972.
AMF moved vehicle assembly to an idle factory it owned in York, Pennsylvania in late 1972 and 1973. Labor relations again deteriorated, and the workers went on strike again in 1974. AMF was forced to settle with the unions, and decided to rethink what it was doing. Work commenced on a new, up-to-date engine for the venerable Shovelhead-powered Big Twin.
While company engineers worked on the new engine in conjunction with Porsche, Willie G. worked styling magic on the Shovelhead, and brought out one iconic model after another. Some standouts include the 1977 XLCR and Low Rider, the 1980 belt-drive Sturgis, and the Wide Glide. Performance upgrades included disc brakes. In 1978, the engine was enlarged to 81.65 cubic inches (1338 cc), which helped with performance while meeting new Environmental Protection Agency emissions standards. In 1980, the company teamed up with the Gates Rubber Company to invent a final belt drive for the Big Twin. The belt drive was quiet and clean, and lasted much longer than anyone expected. A new, stiffer frame appeared on the Tour Glide.
Unfortunately, the quality-control problems persisted. AMF insisted on accelerated production, even after it became clear that there was a downturn in the motorcycle industry. Like their parents before them, the baby boom generation was getting married and having kids. AMF started complaining about each and every capital expenditure. There are different opinions as to whether Harley-Davidson was making money or losing money for AMF, but it is undisputed that AMF was not happy with Harley-Davidson and vice versa.
Indian Larry in front of the Red Rock West.
A group of Harley executives worked with AMF to arrange a leveraged buyout. The deal was signed June 16, 1981. Harley was its own company again.
Out on the Sandia Crest Scenic Highway, New Mexico, with a 2002 Road King.