Harley Davidson History
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ttached to a sidecar gun carriage, invented
by none other than co-founder William S. Harley.
Even more astounding numbers came in World War II, when Harley-Davidson produced more than 60,000 WLA motorcycles. About one-third of those bikes were sold to the Russian army, the rest went almost entirely to the U.S. military.
The industry, which was thriving after World War I, was diminishing quickly as a result of the Great Depression. As one of only two remaining motorcycle companies, Harley-Davidson survived because of exports and sales to the police and military.
The Great Depression had devastated effects on the economy at the time, and Harley Davidson was surely no exeception. Motorcycle sales plunged from 21,000 to less than 4000 between 1929 and 1933. To survive and stimulate demand, Harley Davidson began using graphic imagery and painting an eagle design on all gas tanks as their trademarks. Then, in 1933 Harley Davidson escapes bankruptcy.
Representative of the World War I motorcycle market, Harley-Davidson prospered from military purchasing during World War II. Over 90,000 cycles were built for the military which elevated their production to record levels and earned them the coveted Army-Navy “E” award for excellence in war time production. After the war, Harley went from producing military to recreational bikes. Harley developed and introduced the K-model (1952), Sportster (“Superbike”, 1957), and Duo-Glide (1958) motorcycles. By 1953, Harley-Davidson was the last remaining major motorcycle manufacturer in the US.
On the eve of World War II, Harley Davidson was already supplying the Army with a military- specific version of its 45″ WL line, which was called the WLA (here the “A” stood for army). Upon the outbreak of war, the company shifted to war work. Over 90,000 military motorcycles were produced, to provide the army with transportation.
Harley-Davidson was taken over by the American Machine and Foundry (AMF) in 1969. AMF put the company up for sale in the late 1970s due to a gross reduction in sales. The reduction in sales was representative of a poor level of quality in the Harley bike compared to their Japanese counterpart. In 1981, thirteen members of the Harley-Davidson management team purchased the company from AMF in a leveraged buy-out. In 1972, AMF transferred motorcycle assembly operations to New York, Pennsylvania– But, within the first year, overall demand for motorcycles dropped dramatically and Harleys share of this market also continued to drop. This even greater reduction in sales for Harley resulted in a large inventory of unsold products. Harley was aware they would no longer be able to continue their business at their current production level and operating cost. Therefore, production was cut drastically, and more than 1,800 of the 4,000 employees were let go. In