Holiday Rambler

Maker of motorhomes, and bought by Harley-Davidson in December 1986. Harley-Davidson had just gone public, and now had the access to finance (not to mention managerial freedom) to expand by acquisition. Holiday Rambler promised to even out Harley-Davidson's business by not holding all its eggs in the one motorcycle basket, and by broadening its customer base. That it was able to buy out a company for $155 million, only a year after near-bankruptcy, underlines how rapid Harley-Davidson's turnaround was.