AMF = bad Harley?

[rickgeo]

Posters,
The story I heard,from listening to Jean Davidson speak at a seminar some years ago,was that back before AMF,HD was a privately held company.

The Davidson family (kids,grandkids,shoe-string cousins etc.) had grown to a point,& most of them had no interest in having anything to do with operating the MoCo.

They just wanted they're share of the $$$,of which nobody could agree what the worth was.(remember,privately held Co.earnings do not have to be made public) so,they went looking for a suitor.

I can't remember exactly,but I believe there were 3-4,& there was a bit of family disharmony of which deal was best (remember,this was the 60's, a time for agonizing reappraisal!)

An agreement was finally reached with AMF (publicly held Co.with stocks,bonds that could be divied out to the family) because they made the best offer,at least one that the family could agree on.

Anyway,thats the way I heard it, if anyone else can add or dispel that info,I'm all ears!

[Chris Haynes]

HD was using wornout machinery, they were down on capitol, bike design was staggnet. AmF was sold a bill of goods that HD was in good shape. Why AMF finally gave it up was because their stockholders wanted to stop the bleeding. It cost them a fortune to retool, new designs, upgrades. The family bought it back when it was ready to take off again. They had been working for AMF all along. It didn't help that HD's works union problems almost brought AMF to a screeching halt soon after they aquired HD. Amf SAVED HD and never gets their proper due.

Proper due?
Well Rich,
I think you may need to do a bit of studying.
After the initial investments AMF made millions on the back of H-D. They didn't put it back in the company. I got the reports as an AMF shareholder.
There were thirteen private investors who bought H-D from AMF. One of them was a grandson of the founding fathers and an employee. None of the other eleven had a relation to H-D other than being employees of it. One was not an employee or a relative. H-D was not sold back to the "Family".
AMF owned H-D for thirteen years. Most of the machinery age was less than that. Everything at the York plant was new in the early 1970's. John Nowak wanted a new facility and he got it.
AMF spent an announced three million dollars prototyping the Nova series of motorcycles. Then decided not to produce it. AMF H-D purchased the Tri Hawk Motorcycle Company that produced an enclosed machine with two wheels in front and one in the rear. It was BMW powered. H-D planned to build them with H-D power. But AMF H-D dropped the plan after spending millions on it. Is their pattern starting to register? No wonder they were losing money.
The Alternator Shovelhead was prototyped by H-D before the AMF merger. It became a 1970 model. AMF H-D came out with the five speed rubber glides in 1980 and prototyped the Evolution engine.
Most of AMF's problems can be traced to two different things. Lack of quality control, producing faulty machines. Seriously overloading on parts from vendors. AMF used to brag about "Their Warehouse In The Sky" at the York Plant. A conveyor with hundreds of engines and transmissions running around the ceiling of the plant. When the New H-D took over the first things they did was to jump on quality control and eliminate the storage of huge amounts of parts and go the MAN (Materials As Needed) system of parts inventory. These two things did a lot for the new company. Quality came up, as did sales. Their first three years were touch and go with them struggling to stay in the black, they spent a lot of this time in the red. H-D was doing machining on parts for other companies to stay afloat. I saw manifolds for Chrysler products being machined at the Capitol Drive Plant.
Then something happened and in 1986 they found themselves solidly in the black and going strong. At this time they were able to take the MoCo public. Cash poured in. H-D was now in a position to buy other companies and make lots of improvements and expansion. The new HDI continued to grow for years.
The business world is an ever changing world. For years HDI was struggling to increase production. Now they are in the middle of a fourteen week shutdown on production as sales are way down. Will HDI survive this economic downturn? I hope so.

[INLINE4NUT]

Chris I stand corrected ! If they still have their head up their ass for much longer they will go the way of Indian !

[Robert Luland]

Inlinefour. You repeating the incorrect statement that H-D was on the brink. This false. They were enjoying record profits and needed a partner to help them expand. When they were on the brink is when the new company bought themselves from AMF. It was close then, but they turned things around and so far are still with us. Hopefully they will survive this downturn in the economy.

Four dealerships belly up in New Jersey This year so far. Bob L

[INLINE4NUT]

Bob thats my point they have gotten out of touch!!! To many models over priced and the beat goes on !!!