Harley and the Davidsons

Harley and the Davidsons

Author: Pete Barnes

Publisher: Wisconsin Historical Society

Published: 2013-11-26

Total Pages: 113

ISBN-13: 0870205358

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This addition to the Badger Biographies series tells the story of four young inventors who shared a dream: to create the best motorized bicycle in America. Their turn of the century aspirations took them from a backyard machine shop to a highly successful business empire - and all in the span of just a few years. With grit, determination, and not a little elbow grease, Bill Harley and the Davidson brothers - Arthur, William, and Walter - used their engineering and machine-shop expertise to continually perfect their designs and present the best possible products to the American public. Along the way they made their mark on the racing circuit and introduced safety measures that continue to this day. After their deaths, their sons and daughters continued this legacy, buying back the company after it changed hands and re-establishing Harley-Davidson as the king of the motorcycle world. From the old Knucklehead, Panhead and Shovelhead motors to the Evolution, Revolution and Twin Cam engines that followed, the story of Harley and the Davidsons remains one of the great success stories of the 20th century.


Growing Up Harley-Davidson

Growing Up Harley-Davidson

Author: Jean Davidson

Publisher:

Published:

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 9781610603997

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Motorcycles have been a way of life for Jean Davidson. Her grandfather was Walter Davidson, one of the four founders and the first president of Harley-Davidson. Her father was company vice president Gordon Davidson. And Jean herself was a Harley-Davidson dealer, rubbing elbows with all the Harleys and Davidsons as well as the Hell's Angels and Outlaws, famous racers, and Evel Knievel. This is the history of Harley-Davidson motorcycles no one else knew-until now! Here is the fairy-tale story of how four boys built their first motorcycle in a shed; how a slippery-handed maid stole all the company's earnings from the coffee can that served as their "bank"; and how a hermit uncle donated his life's savings to resurrect the company and set it on the path to becoming the world's most famous motorcycle maker. Here is the inside scoop on behind-the-boardroom-door politics and corporate battles, the unknown history of the first Knucklehead and Sportster, the secret friendship with arch-rival Indian motorcycles, and more. Here are family stories and rare photos from the family album that no one else has seen before.


The Harley-Davidson Source Book

The Harley-Davidson Source Book

Author: Mitch Bergeron

Publisher: Motorbooks International

Published: 2021-12-14

Total Pages: 293

ISBN-13: 0760361908

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The Harley-Davidson Source Book is the ultimate curated survey of the ultimate motorcycle. It details the most significant designs and models throughout the Motor Company's history.


Jean Davidson's Harley-Davidson Family Album

Jean Davidson's Harley-Davidson Family Album

Author: Jean Davidson

Publisher: Motorbooks

Published: 2003-04-12

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 9780896586291

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Here's an inside look at Harley-Davidson as only family members could tell it! Jean Davidson's Harley-Davidson Family Album presents never-before-seen family photos, as well as personal stories from the perspective of a family member and former Harley-Davidson dealer. Jean Davidson, the granddaughter of Walter Davidson, one of the four founders and the first president of Harley-Davidson, and the daughter of company vice-president Gordon Davidson, shares such family stories as: how four boys built their first bike in a shed in 1902, speculation about how the firm was named, how the family's rich hermit uncle saved the fledgling corporation from bankruptcy, the story behind the Silent Gray Fellow, and the sale and buy-back of the company. It also includes photos and reminiscences from Sarah and Mary Harley, granddaughters of William S. Harley. This memoir of the Harley-Davidson motorcycling dynasty presents a family album of rare photos of family members and fun photos of all those fabulous Harley-Davidson motorcycles: putting a personal face on the world's most famous motorcycle maker.


The Harley in the Barn

The Harley in the Barn

Author: Tom Cotter

Publisher: Motorbooks

Published: 2016-07-01

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 0760352593

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Break into that barn - you know you want to - there might be a vintage Harley inside. If you won't break in, Tom Cotter will; amazing motorcycles await. Driving down a country road, a flash of chrome catches your eye as you pass an old farmstead. Next time you roll by, you slow down and focus on a shed behind the house. Could that be? Good lord, it is! Hard on the brakes, quick reverse, and pull in the drive. Yep, it's a vintage Triumph Bonneville peering forlornly from beneath a tattered cover. You've just begun the journey that fuels the dreams of every motorcycle collector: the long-forgotten machine, rediscovered. The Harley in the Barn offers forty-plus tales of lost Nortons, hidden Hondas, dormant Indians, and busted BSAs, all squirreled away from prying eyes but found by lucky collectors just like you. Author Tom Cotter is not only a barn-find master, he's also master of discovering the collectors with the best stories and the most outlandish finds. In The Harley in the Barn, all those great stories are told. If you can't pass a padlocked garage without wondering if there's a great old bike stashed inside, this is your book. Hell, this is your life.


The Complete Harley-Davidson

The Complete Harley-Davidson

Author: Tod Rafferty

Publisher: Crestline

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 0760303266

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Arranged chronologically, presents a history of every major motorcycle model produced by the legendary company since 1903.


Harley-Davidson

Harley-Davidson

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2015-10-08

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9788854409453

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From the appearance of the first single cylinder engine, followed by its twin cylinders, the Harley-Davidson has distinguished itself by its imposing models, known for their trustworthiness and endurance, and by their many wins on the racetrack. The motorcycles, powered by V-Twin Harley-Davidson engines, have forged the legend of this American brand - already in business for over a century - through families of highly prestigious names: Hydra Glide, then Duo Glide and finally Electra Glide, and also Softail, Dyna, V-Rod and Sportster--names that exist and have persisted, in the case of certain models, for more than 50 years. In spite of competition that in late years from America and then from the UK and Japan, Harley-Davidson has prevailed because of the innovations it has introduced - at times belatedly, but always the fruit of sensible reflections - and because it has diversified its family of motorcycles to make them correspond to the public's expectations. Without falling into the trap of expanding technological innovations to an exaggerated level, the new Harley-Davidsons have become motorcycles offering modern performance while at the same time conserving the spirit of the brand and, above all, that special Harley-Davidson character. All you need to do is climb onto the saddle and rev up a Harley-Davidson to discover a new motorcycling universe, where the concept of pleasure reveals new meaning. This is the universe that this book invites you to discover, through the history of the brand's main models, embodying nearly 110 years of motorcycling adventures, and touching upon touring, sport, customisation and a simple and outright passion for motorcycles. AUTHOR: Pascal Szymezak is a motorbike journalist. He has worked as an editorial consultant for music-themed volumes and, in particular, he was the curator of the title 'Heavy Metal,' and worked on graphic design for the book 'Dream Cars of the Twenty-First Century' (2013). Illustrated


The Harley-Davidson and Indian Wars

The Harley-Davidson and Indian Wars

Author: Allan Girdler

Publisher: Motorbooks International

Published: 2002-05

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 9780760313534

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Allan Girdler. This colorful reprint examines the dueling marques right up through Indian's dissolution in the 1950s.


At the Creation

At the Creation

Author: Herbert Wagner

Publisher: Wisconsin Historical Society

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13:

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At the Creation by Herbert Wagner brings to life the human side of Harley-Davidson's quest to motorize the bicycle and then to promote it as a powerful, fast, reliable, and thrilling means of personal transportation. This book examines the origins of two-wheeled transportation from a time when combining the gasoline engine with the bicycle was the province of dreamers and con men. This is the definitive account of the beginnings of the only American motorcycle brand to ultimately succeed and survive. Backed by a decade of research, At the Creation documents for the first time the early years of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle in its birthplace of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, an area that was an early center of motorcycle manufacturing. Previous books on Harley-Davidson have failed to adequately cover this critical period, which has been described as the "era of mystery" by Harley-Davidson company historian Martin Jack Rosenblum. At the Creation takes on several long-standing puzzles and myths, and then, through the use of period documents and original photographs, recreates the actual events of Harley's first years as they most plausibly occurred.