Custom term paper on William Harley and Arthur Davidson

In 1906, Harley and Davidson built their first factory on Chestnut Street (later, the street was renamed in Juneau Avenue). Today, at this address is the headquarters` address of the company. The first plant on Juneau Avenue was a wooden building 40 by 60 feet. At that “factory” in the first year there were made 50 motorcycles. In 1907 William Harley had got the higher education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as an engineer-mechanic. In the same year the factory has got the second floor, which has greatly increased the production. In 1907, 150 motorcycles were made. The same year the company took an important part of the market, signing the contract, thanks to which the motorcycles were bought by the local police. All the motorcycles manufactured in 1905 and 1906, were single-cylinder engine with a capacity of 440 cm ³. In February 1907 at the Chicago car show was the first presentation of the motorcycle with the V-twin engine. Despite the advertising, only few motorcycles with engine V-Twin, volume 53.68 cubic inches (880 cm ³) and produced about 7 horsepower (5 kW) were sold during 1907 and 1910. These motors were almost two times more powerful than the first models. The maximum speed was about 60 miles per hour. The production of motorcycles increased from 450 in 1908 to 1.149 in 1909. “By the 1911 there were more than 150 motorcycle manufacturers in America, but only few of them survived until the end of the decade” (Leffingwell, pp. 45-48). In 1911 Harley and Davidson created the new upgraded model of the engine V-twin. The new engine had a mechanical control of inlet valves, in contrast to earlier models, in which the inlet valve was opened by vacuum, created in the cylinder. The volume of the new engine was reduced to 49.48 cubic inches (810 cm ³), but due to an improved system of timing the capacity increased almost twofold. Most motorcycles manufactured after 1913, were equipped with that new engine. In 1913, the brick factory building, built in 1910, was demolished and a new five-story building of reinforced concrete and red brick was built on its place. By 1914, Harley-Davidson has become a leading manufacturer of motorcycles in the U.S., overtaking its main rival – the Indian company. In 1914 the motorcycle production mark reached 16,284 vehicles.
In 1916 there was the first documented use of motorcycles Harley-Davidson by armed forces. Militants of Mexican rebel Pancho Villa used motorcycles Harley-Davidson for raids to American cities on the border with Mexico. They were opposed by the troops under the command of “General Pershing on the Indian motorcycle” (Melief. 2006).
The high technical level and reliability were estimated by military, thus every second “Harley” was mobilized during the First World War. And in 1920, 2,000 dealers in 67 countries on five continents have sold 28,890 motorcycles, so the company outperformed all competitors and became the leading motor company in the world!
The success was supported by the appearance of the1.2-liter «V-Twin» Flathead with a side-valve and dated 1932, Tricycle Servi-car in the 1929. “It was the most long-lived model of the company, built before 1973!” (Rafferty, pp. 98-102).custom term paper
Everything was great until the company of Henry Ford appeared: in the mid all motorcycle companies began to go bankrupt, because Ford-T in the most expensive version cost less than most affordable bikes. Finally the local motor industry suffered from the Great Depression: In 1932, in two years after the “Black Monday”, the number of motorcycle plant was reduced from 70 to 2 – HD and Indian. Both have survived thanks to the fact that they were not competing in price with the Ford-T, but took the position that their products were the vehicles for connoisseurs. However, that did not help a lot – the “circulation” was steadily falling (Wilson, p. 13).
The company was saved thanks to the Second World War: in 1942 – 1945 years nearly 90 thousand of “Harleys” were delivered to the Allied armies. The economic success helped the company survive after the loss of all four founders. In 1937 William Davidson died, in 1942 – his brother Walter died, a year later – William Harley died, in 1950 a third of Davidson – Arthur also died. Their company still exists and is famous all over the world and their production is popular among real connoisseurs (Hook, pp. 256-258).
William Harley and Arthur Davidson are the founders of Harley-Davidson Motor Company. Their names are still associated with high quality, reliability, and the prestige. They left an outstanding mark in the history of motorcycles.

Work Cited

Davidson, Jean. Growing Up Harley-Davidson: Memoirs of a Motorcycle Dynasty. (2003). pp. 78-81. Print.
Davidson, Willie G. 100 years of Harley-Davidson. (2002). p. 134. Print.
Girdler, Allan., Hussey, Ron. Harley-Davidson: The American Motorcycle. (2003). p. 67. Print.
Hamner, Susanna. Harley, You Are Not Getting Any Younger. The New York Times. (March 22, 2009). Print.
Hook, Patrick. Harley Davidson: The Complete History. (2003). pp. 256-258. Print.
Leffingwell, Randy. Harley-Davidson History & Mystique. (2003). pp. 45-48. Print.
Lynch, Joseph W. Harley Davidson, A Spirit of American Freedom for 100 Years. Seton Hall University. (2003).
Melief, Mark., Bundgaard, Tycen., Hathaway, Jordan. Strategic Report for Harley Davidson. Pandora Group: Out of the Box Consulting. (April 4, 2006)
Rafferty, Tod. Complete Harley Davidson: A Model-by-Model History of the American Motorcycle. (1997). pp. 98-102. Print.
Wilson, Hugo. Harley-Davidson‎. (1998). P. 13. Print.