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Difference between revisions of "Harley-Davidson history"
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This was time for the traditionalists, but Harley-Davidson was getting further and further out of the main stream. So while the motorcycle market expanded around it, the company was getting pushed into a backwater. The Aermacchi bikes had increased sales and turnover, but not profits, and the company was fast running out of money. So in 1965, for the first time since it was set up, the family Tim went public. It was careful to keep control (various family members made up seven of the nine-strong Board) and the influx of cash was spent on new equipment and a big advertising campaign. But it was only putting off the inevitable. Within a couple of years., the company was back to square one and ready to accept that a takeover was the only way to survive, | This was time for the traditionalists, but Harley-Davidson was getting further and further out of the main stream. So while the motorcycle market expanded around it, the company was getting pushed into a backwater. The Aermacchi bikes had increased sales and turnover, but not profits, and the company was fast running out of money. So in 1965, for the first time since it was set up, the family Tim went public. It was careful to keep control (various family members made up seven of the nine-strong Board) and the influx of cash was spent on new equipment and a big advertising campaign. But it was only putting off the inevitable. Within a couple of years., the company was back to square one and ready to accept that a takeover was the only way to survive, | ||
There were two suitors, Bangor Punta was keen, but had a reputation as an asset-stripper. The American Machine and Foundry Company, on the other hand, had a strong engineering background; it promised that Harley's existing management would keep control, and chairman Rodney C. Gott was a Harley owner! After some courtroom wrangling, Harley-Davidson shareholders accepted the deal, and Harley-Davidson became a subsidiary of AMF in January 1969. It was a family firm no more. | There were two suitors, Bangor Punta was keen, but had a reputation as an asset-stripper. The American Machine and Foundry Company, on the other hand, had a strong engineering background; it promised that Harley's existing management would keep control, and chairman [[Rodney C. Gott]] was a Harley owner! After some courtroom wrangling, Harley-Davidson shareholders accepted the deal, and Harley-Davidson became a subsidiary of AMF in January 1969. It was a family firm no more. | ||
==1970s: Have We Got Trouble!== | ==1970s: Have We Got Trouble!== | ||