Amtorg Company

Amtorg was established by the Soviet Union and based in Washington during the Second World War, and one of its tasks was to source motorcycles and send them back to Russia. A Mr. Karsov was in charge of motorcycle buying, and had bought some Indians in early 1940. He'd been doing the same job back in 1924, when Charles Cartwright, Harley-Davidson's salesman in New England, had helped him buy some Harleys on credit. It was no surprise then, when the two men met again, that the Soviet Union switched back to Harleys.