One of the greatest accomplishments to come out of Wisconsin is the Harley-Davidson company, HD began in Milwaukee in 1903 with two friends. The first project for the company got its start thanks to William Harley and Arthur Davidson, project competition would depend upon the talents of Arthur’s brothers, Walter and William. The group formed the HD Company – which would later be incorporated – with Walter’s abilities as a mechanic and the second William’s skills as a toolmaker.
During the first year of the Harley-Davidson company, they manufactured three motorcycles and all three were paid for before manufacturing was finished. The term ‘Silent Gray Fellows’ originated as a nickname for these bikes because Gray was the standard color. Motorcycle motors, marine motors, reversible propellers, and float feed carburetors all joined the company’s famous motorcycle by 1905 as products produced by HD.
The popularity of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle continued to grow through out the following decade. By 1914, nine departments of the federal government of the United States used them, including the U.S. Postal service who used more than 4,800 for rural mail delivery. In 1916 the military began using HD’s in border skirmishes with Pancho Villa where the motorcycles were equipped with machine guns. Their motorcycles were also used in World War I with half of all models produced being shipped overseas.
The 1920′s brought an end to the war and a beginning to the world of racing where they made quite an impact. During a time when many other businesses were forced to shut down in the 1930s, Harley-Davidson was able to struggle through the Great Depression era, and even saw continued growth of the company. With the advent of World War II in the following decade, HDs went into service for the government once again.
Throughout the fifties, HD increased the fierceness of their marketing, and as a result, saw additional prosperity. The climate of the Korean War was not as conducive as the European market had been for making motorcycles into military equipment and as a result, the government opted for Jeeps instead. Civilian consumers more than made up for the lack of government contracts, Harley-Davidson responded by continuing to concentrate on the civilians who bought their products.
The company was not immune to the undercurrent of transformations that took place in the decade of the 1960s. Change can be seen through the company’s decision to produce the 3-wheeled golfing cart. These golf carts were very successful, gathering a third of the golf cart market by the decades’ close, and becoming popular items overseas too. It was also during this time that Harley-Davidson began producing a line of motorcycle accessories.
During the seventies, many additions to the motorcycles allowed the Harley-Davidson bikes to experience continued success in the racing world. The 1980s were a decade of great financial change for many companies, and for the HD Company, this was especially true when they became a private ownership again as the result of a buyback. Also during the decade, the company’s increase devotion to better machines paid off in the form of many years’ worth of contract deals with the California Highway Patrol, from 184 to 1985, and again from 1987 to 1989.
In the decade of the 1990s, the Harley-Davidson Company began producing of the FLSTF Fat Boy, their most customized factory custom motorcycle yet. The bike was one that had elements of the past, but also continued the company’s history of innovation for the future. The Twenty first century has come and the company remains strong. The basic line of the company is composed of the Sporster, the Dyna, the Softail, the VRSC, and a Touring line, each line then diverges into different models.
