Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

i Harley-Davidson. Q. ~ /AM F (Continu ed from page 5) On the ouier hand, a growing number :; of consumers did as pire to one or more .., of those categories. And others, with no assume, or avoid, any par;: need toImage, saved their bucks toward ticular w Z the goal of finally moving up to thelr W version of the ultimate motorcycle ..J U the Harley V-twin. > Though Cycle News r ead ers are no U doubt somewhat- more or less-a I1ttlecasually or intimately familiar with these machines, others (recent Immigrants, etc.) deserve at least a br ief descr iption: The heavy duty Harleys are offered In three configurati ons - big, bigger and biggest . In 'quotes are thelr r espective advertis ing s logans. 1) Big: " Carve your nam e on bla cktop." XLCH- I OOO; the lean mean moth er , distin ctive barit one exhaust note. At home on the highway, dr ag s trip, In fr ont of the pool hall or In Lucy'S dr iveway . Very fast, r eUabl e. Automotive counterpart: Cor vette . 2) Bigger : " J us t add ego. And go." F X- 1200; al so lean, bigger engine and ' disc brakes at both ends. Vas t styllng improvement over previous models. Not quite so fast, rellable. · Auto counterpart: Pontiac Grand P rix ... 3) Biggest: " Love affair . Mile aft er mlle after mlle." F LH- 1200; The longdistance heavy cruis er. Pac ks two up and ei ght ca s es of beer with no problem. Cons ervative acceleration . Auto counterpart: Cadll la c . Big and Biggest, the top sellers, appeal to two distinctly differ ent buyers . Big is Uke a Doberman, quick and snarllng. Biggest Is a St. Bernard, comforting and dur a ble. The same characteristics appeal to both cus tomer s ' strength, prestige and stamina. And though one group for s akes functi on(wide seat, luggage rack) In search of form (banana seat, ti ny gas tank ), the basic appeal Is held In common: Guts . In 1968, a number of Harley- Davidson shareholders decided that, while It was nice to have a big American motorcycle, It would be nicer to have stock In a big American corporation. Fas ter than you - can say "Diversification", the offers came rolllng In. '" , t--. BIG GER Snow mcb il e Mu lt iplicity BIGGEST THE MERGER MADE Bangor Punta V 5. Gott's Artille ry Two large conglomerates expressed serious interest In acquirdng Harley Davidson; Bangor Punta (Yanke e motorcyc les) and American Machine and Foun dry. AMF Is the largest manufacturer of leis ur e- ti me products In America. In the past five years , since Rodney C. Gatt became chief executive; AMPs sales have gone up 33% and Its net Income has Increased by 70%. Gott, 61, Is a West · Point grad and commanded an artillery unit under General Patton In Wor ld War n. He rides a Har leyDavidson XL-lOOO (for mer ly the Sportster) and a FLH -12 00 (formerly the Electra- GUde). He also heads a group of cor por ate executive motor cycUsts known as the " AMF Angels " . The Bangor Pun ta offer was also under consideration . Accor ding to Harley' s Executive Vice-Presiden t, Mar keti ng, John A. Davidson: " Bangor Pun ta approached the HarleyDavidson mana gement while we were tal king with AMF, and also talking with othe rs . We assessed the Bangor Punta offer and felt tha t AMF' s offer was much mor e attractive. We also felt that AMF was a better company for us ." Thus, the H-D management turned down the Bangor Punta proposition. But Bangor Punta persis ted and decided to appro ach Harle y's shareholders directly. As J ohn Davidson says , " The next chap ter, s o far as Bangor P unta was concerned, was a tender offer that they made direct to our shareholder s . In Inves tment ci rcles I guess this Is commonly known as a ' raid' . When we had our shareholde rs' mee ting on the AMF offer, Bangor Pu nta was also a cons ider ati on. Each shareholder had the opportunity at that ti me of voting for the merger with AMF, or voting for Bangor Punta." Bangor Punta received les s than five percent of the vote , and Har ley - Davidson became a wholly -owned SUbsidiary of AMF Incor porated. Lo ok famil iar? the stock, Bangor Punta filed a complaint In U. S. DIstrict Cour t, naming Harley-Davidso n andAMF as defendants. Thi s was apparentl y a last-ditch attempt to ave rt the merger with AMF. It would appear that Bangor P unta had little hope of gain ing a decisive voti ng margin, since the suit was later dropped. Harley-Davidson thus joined the li st of AMF-owned companies, which Includes Alcort sailboats, Head skis, Tyrol1a ski bindings, Ben Hogan golf clubs, Volt sporting goods, Roadmaster bicycles, Hatteras yachts, Skamper campers and AMF bowling equipme nt . There were few Immedia te changes at Harley-Davidson , In Its perso nnel or Its pr oducts . Wal ter C. Davidson, then VlcePresiden t - Sales, did r etire shor tly after the merger . That position went to John Davidso n, who was recently promote d to Executive Vice President Marketing . Charles Thompson joined the comp any as Sales Manager for motor cycles and snowmobiles . He had for me r ly been a Harley dealer In Louls vllle, Kentuc ky. AMF patiently as s essed the s ituation In Mil waukee and began es tab llshlng p r f or1t1es . Changes withi n a 65- year- old family oper ation ar e not made Irnpuls lve ly. AMF gr aduall y undertook program s of administrative s tream1ln1ng, organizing procedures to conform with other corporate subsidiaries . In an Inte rview publls hed In Busi nes s Week , Sept . 16, 1972, Rodney Gott commented on his ta cti cs. " Thts ta kes ti me, a certa in amount of bloodle tting, and a measur able amount of tears. You have to overcom e the lethargy In human nature over doing thin gs a new way." According to Bus iness Week, Har le yDavidson sales have doubled since joinIng AMF , and Its profits have quadrupled. Bangor Punta had pr eviousl y purchased stock fr om so me of the HarleyDavidson shareholders. With too little tim e to transfer ownership of some of One Is sue crucial to the Harley-Davidson management was the snowmobile question. They mad e It clear In prelim Inary negotiations with AMF that HarleyDavidson had comm itte d considerable des ign and development ti me to Its s nowmobile pr ogram. AMF was already in the sno wmobile field with Its Skl-Daddler, manufactured by Western Tool. ButAMF had experienced distribution a nd cost problems with the Ski -Daddler,andHarle y had a s upe r ior machine plus existing distribution fac ll1t1es In Its dealer networ k. AMPs Western Tool suspended production and the remainder of Its Inventor y was allocated to Har ley-Davidson. The machines have now all been SOld, and H-D continues to honor all warranty cla ims on them. The Harley snowmobiles, styled by William G. Davidson, Design Dlrector, are American made with the exception of the Aermacchl engines . The origInal racing model was a rear-engine design, but the U.S. Snowmobile Association would not approve It for racing in the conve ntional cla s s es . So the rear-engine design has been shelved, at least temporarily. The big I was orig inally designed for Mert L awi ll ' s championship bike, by Bi l l David son and Ad Manager Duane Unkefer. The s nowmobile boom appears to be leveling off, and some comp anies that made second-rate machines - or over produced good machines - are In trouble. The market Is glutted with cut - rate bargains. But Joh n Davidson predicts a heal thy future for H-D in snowmob iling. "I think we're In the ' weeding out' phase, If you will , and It w1ll boll down to perhaps eight or ten ' major manufac turer s who will par ticipate In a much more sophisticated market in a few year s . We plan to be one of those eight or ten."

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