Celebrating 100 Years Of The Harley-Davidson

Posted by admin on September 9, 2009

Unbelievably, the Harley-Davidson company has been around for over 100 years, HD was begun by two friends in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1903. The company’s first project would grow to include two additional Davidson?s brothers, Walter and William, but began between Arthur Davidson and William Harley. Mechanical skill came from Walter, and tool making from William Davidson, the four men formed the HD Company, which only later would become incorporated.

During 1903 Harley-Davidson turned out a grand total of 3 motorcycles, all were bought and paid for before completion. As the regulation color of these early bikes was gray, they were nicknamed Silent Gray Fellows. By 1905, the Company had grown at such a rate that they were now selling motorcycle motors, marine motors, reversible propellers, and float feed carburetors along with the standard motorcycles.

The Harley-Davidson company only continued to prosper through the next decade. The use of the products was not restricted to that of the general populace, as even the government got into the act, by employing the usage of the bikes in 9 departments (over 4,800 were used in the Postal service alone. In 1916 the military began using HD’s in border skirmishes with Pancho Villa where the motorcycles were equipped with machine guns. Such was the relationship between the military and the government that during World War I, half of all the HD models that were made were immediate shipped to overseas forces.

The world of racing greeted the HD Company during the 1920s when they started to enter their machines. 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. When World War II began, the motorcycles began tools of the government, as they had been during the previous war.

The 1950s continued to be a period of immense growth for HD, the company strengthened their marketing campaigns during this decade as well. When fighting began in the Korean War, HD did not prosper from any government contracts this time around, as the Jeep replaced motorcycles in the governments’ preference. Harley-Davidson responded to this by simply continuing to target their already expansive civilian consumer base.

The 1960s were a decade of change for the company, as well as the rest of the United States. Change can be seen through the company’s decision to produce the 3-wheeled golfing cart. Throughout the 1960s, these golf carts dominated a third of the cart market domestically, and experienced continued success in the rest of the world. This decade also saw the premier of the Harley-Davidson line of accessories for motorcycles.

The 1970’s saw continuing success in the racing venue and great advancements were made in the racing bikes that were produced by Harley-Davidson. Following a buyback in the 1980s, HD became a private enterprise again. The company’s interest in building high quality machines continued, and this caused them to win contract deals with the California Highway Patrol in 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988 and 1989.

The 1990s included the addition of the FLSTF Fatboy to the Harley-Davidson line of customized factory motorcycles. The production of this bike allowed buyers to produce high quality items that were both evocative of previous era’s products, and contemporary enough to compete in the present-day market. The HD Company retains its strength and popularity in the dawn of the twenty-first century. There are several models of each line (which include the Sporster, the Dyna, the Softail, the VRSC, and a Touring line) in the company’s current production.