Prototype OHV H-D

[fxcw64]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1939-Harley...cAAOSwOI5dOGCQ

For sale 1 of 5 prototype OHV motorcycles Bill Harley was developing -some castings marked Ex for experimental looks for real to my UNTRAINED eye!!

I like the look of the covers with the speed lines wonder why they did not keep that exact look hmmmmm atleast for a few years !! Pretty Cool I am really starting to appreciate the styling of Bill Harley years ahead of his time !!!

Hollywood is missing a great story that with proper research could really tell a story of American ingenuity !! As well as celebrating that art deco era !!!

I have seen Harley and the Davidsons but it seemed to move very quickly.


Thought some on here may be intersted in this !!

[41craig]

fxcw64: This bike was for sale on Ebay 4 or 5 months ago, with the same listing info. I can't remember what it sold for, but it was not cheap ! I guess the buyer backed out or something.
Craig

[fxcw64]

Thinking of this prototype made me wonder about the founders of H-D and when they passed and I was surprised to find out Bill Harley passed (1943)before the end of the Knucklehead production run Walter the year before(1942) and Arther in 1950 that is incredible that the company survived the loss of those three !!! But it could be said for only about 19 years till AMF took over ..................Which almost put them in the klincker for good !!

[RichO]

If it wasn't for AMF there wouldn't be a Harley-Davidson today. It was AMF's investment that revived the company at their stockholders cost and made them sell it back to the family in far better shape then when they sold it to AMF.

[41craig]

If it wasn't for AMF there wouldn't be a Harley-Davidson today. It was AMF's investment that revived the company at their stockholders cost and made them sell it back to the family in far better shape then when they sold it to AMF.

RichO; You are correct. Doc Schneidwind who owned Doc's H-D in St. Louis told about AMF saving the MoCo back in the 1970's. The problem early on with AMF was they stressed production numbers over quality. A good friend of mine picked up his new Superglide at Doc's in 1973 when he returned from the service. After 500 miles, the bottom end came out of the motor. Another friend bought his new superglide in 1974 and the same thing happened at about 500 miles. I'm sure that after a few of these expensive warranty jobs they fixed the production problem.
Craig

[Chris Haynes]

Don't believe the old tale that H-D was on the verge of bankruptcy and AMF saved them. The fact is that H-D was enjoying record sales and need to expand their operation. Many companies were chafing at the bit to partner with H-D. The MoCo decided to partner with AMF because they were already in the recreational product business. AMF owned a complete manufacturing complex in York, PA which is the H-D final Assembly Plant today. In January 1969 H-D and AMF MERGED. It was not a sale. The only time H-D was ever sold is when Willie G. and the eleven other employees and one outsider purchased the company from AMF.

[41craig]

badger34; That is a great link !
Thanks, Craig

[Rubone]

Badger's link is the true story as to what was going on. I worked for a dealership from '72 to '80 and went through all the BS. When H-D announced the move to York we saw quality control plummet as well as sabotage on the new bikes. Many Milwaukee workers were told to either uproot and move to York or lose their jobs. It took several years for things to improve and by the late '70s the bikes were mostly staying together.
The 1965 date is interesting because when H-D went public they also put pressure on their older dealers and many sold out or closed because of the new corporate management style going along with the new Board. The old dealer in my town just told them to suck eggs and walked away after being their dealer since 1934. I had been doing business with him for a short while before he left but got to know him much better after as he ran an indy shop for a couple more decades.They sent a company man to operate the dealership while they tried to find a buyer, eventually basically giving it to someone with no franchise fees as no one wanted it. Many folks felt they were washed up and done with in the late '60s. PDs were even trying out Moto-Guzzis!

[exeric]

The primary Orlando, Florida dealer from 1936 to the mid 1960s had been Louis Puckett, but he was preceded by the early, and first Orlando H-D dealer whose name I can't remember because it is currently happy hour. Louis Puckett hated the forced Aermacchi deal (according to his son Buddy) that made him take a disproportionate number of Italian bikes for each American big twin, and Sportster that he was allotted from H-D. His son Buddy Puckett was well into Harley choppers, and had tons of genuine parts to work with so they went successfully 'independent, Dick Farmer was the Orlando dealer who carried the H-D banner from the mid-'60s, through AMF, and into the boutique era but was replaced by some corporate H-D guy who wanted to live in Florida, hence the awful dealership one can see from I-4 on the way to Dismal World. I got to know Dick Farmer's son Richard, and he told me his worst experience with selling H-Ds was when he sold a '72 dresser to a man who bought a new Harley every 2 years. He gave them his old bike, and took delivery of a new 1972FLH. He came back a 1/2 hour later on foot; gave them the keys, and said he wanted his old motorcycle, and his check back. Richard said he never came back for another motorcycle. That story is a microcosm of American industry, labor, world politics, and the general dysfunction in the 1970s. I'm glad H-D made it through all that, and I hope they find their place in the modern age. Harley-Davidson has always been good for the American psyche, and has proven the flexibility of American manufacturing for survival without government subsidy (in most non-military cases):

[RichO]

I guess that's why there were no problems with the first VL's and the Twin-cams. Your not doing anything if you never make a mistake. Sure AMF had problems early on but so did others. I can't find anything wrong with my all original last year AMF FXB.

[Rubone]

AMF tried to do too much too soon. They bumped production up by more than double the first couple years (and quadruple by a couple years more) they were there, and production could not keep up. The 1000cc Sportsters were some of the worst. The cylinder castings were so bad that on many of them we routinely pulled them at the 1000 mile service (if the oil consumption wasn't so bad as to appear to be a mosquito fogger, if so at much less mileage!) and bored and refitted them. A boring bar run through them would touch at random high points all over the bore. The new Sportster frames broke, the FL and FX fenders split, engines were missing important internal bits, left case bushings came loose in the casting, alternators melted, the list could go on a long time. Any good running 350 twin Japanese bike could spank any of them. It was a dismal time. I did primarily warranty work and wreck rebuilds. And warranty was often complete engine or transmission rebuilds, not to mention porous castings, scored pistons, horrible brakes. Much could be laid right at AMF's door. H-D had designed some of the newer models, but AMF declined to test them thoroughly before foisting them on the public.

[fxcw64]

Rubone
Yeah thats about what I was hearing at the Dealership I worked at right after AMF was bought out -Just sabatoge type stories from the factory and a generally bad product- but that changed fairly quickly once AMF was out and Rappin Ron Reagan came to the rescue to give them some breathing room-the Softail was the talk of the town and it got better from there !! I have a pic -me sitting on the first year one while it was still partially in the CRATE !! The crazy deal with the Softails people were putting bob tail fenders on bikes for years, before H-D did the first Softail, my Sporty included !!
I had swore them off once I sold my Sportster but came back for a 2003 FLSTFI but they rode like crap in the wind JMO- my FXCW is a great ride when I get a chance...But would not be my choice to ride cross country.
Yeah you worked there during some bleak times for the Motor Co. but it seemed where we were- once the Softail came out then the Fatboy it was Good times then of course the late 90's when you had waiting lists to get a BIKE !!!!Walk into a Dealership and all the bikes were sold with signs on the seat saying so in our area about 1999 or 2000 till 2004 !!!

[fxcw64]

Rich
Hey that might be the bright spot the belt driven Sturgis -what a cool bike and your Smart to have kept it !!! They did re issue a newer model years later correct ?
1982 correct ?

[RichO]

Claude, They made the Sturgis in '80 to '82 with the '82 model having a special badge on the front fender to show the family was back in the saddle. They came back out with it in the Dyna chassis in the early '90's for a year or two.

[duffeycycles]

Mike wilson in Cedar Rapids also dropped the HD franchise & went with honda in 1965,because of pressure from the Motor Co.He had originally been an HD financed startup dealership.