The Decade That Almost Ended Harley-Davidson

Harley-Davidson almost ended in the 1970s — and the company that nearly broke it made bowling equipment. This is the story of the AMF years: how a conglomerate bought America's most iconic motorcycle brand, chased volume, and built bikes so unreliable that riders nicknamed them "Hardly Driveable." In 1969, the same year Easy Rider made the Harley a symbol of American freedom, the founding family sold the company to American Machine and Foundry — a maker of bowling gear, tobacco machines, and reactor parts. AMF tripled production, quality collapsed, and the Japanese "big four" — Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha — flooded America with cheaper, faster, leak-free machines. By the end of the decade Harley was weeks from going under. Then thirteen executives, led by Vaughn Beals and Willie G. Davidson, bought the company back for around $80 million, stole the Japanese playbook, built the Evolution engine — and in 1987 did something no rescued company ever had: they asked the government to lift their own tariff a year early, because they no longer needed it. Engine & Empire — the machines that built and broke the great manufacturers. ⏱ Chapters 0:00 The Bowling Company That Almost Ended Harley 1:01 What a Harley Meant 2:08 Enter AMF 3: