WEBVTT - Harley Davidson Rides to War 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:07.480 America the Great Depression. Things aren't looking so good for 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:10.320 the American economy. And all but one of your competitors 0:00:10.360 --> 0:00:13.399 as fallen victim do the drink as people cut back 0:00:13.520 --> 0:00:17.479 on recreational spending. But here you are, Holly Davidson, sitting 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:20.680 on the edge of economic decline. It'll take some ingenuity 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:22.840 for you to make yourself a necessity in a country 0:00:22.880 --> 0:00:26.680 pinching its last penny. So rev engines, donia leather coats, 0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:29.520 and make sure tell where are your helmets? Because this 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:42.960 is Harley Davidson on the brink. Hither everyone. I'm Jonathan 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:45.920 Strickland and I'm Aerial Casting, and today we're gonna talk 0:00:46.080 --> 0:00:49.400 about a company that has a good long history. Harley 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:53.040 Davidson been around, been around for for a week or two, Yeah, 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:56.400 for a hundred and fifteen years, more like it? Yeah, 0:00:56.480 --> 0:01:00.800 and uh and just interest a full disclosure, do not, 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:04.800 nor have I ever owned a motorcycle. I do not 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:09.320 nor have never owned a motorcycle either. But my family 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:14.959 they're all motorcyclists. My father has a Goldwing and my 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:17.880 aunt has been a part of like Friendly motorcycle gangs 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:22.120 and has taught motorcycle safety classes and has owned many motorcycles. Yeah, 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:25.600 whereas my parents are teachers and would probably scold be 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:27.479 if I were to ever even look at a motorcycle 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:30.400 for too long. But we want to talk a little 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:34.200 bit about where the company Harley Davidson came from. And then, 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:37.360 out of all the companies that started before the Great Depression, 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:40.520 all the motorcycle companies, how is it that Harley Davidson 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:45.040 and the Indian Motorcycle Company are the only two that 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:47.440 that we're able to get through it? So how did 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:51.200 Harley Davidson get started? Well, Harley Davidson got started in 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:54.280 nineteen o one when WILLIAMS. Harley, who's only twenty one 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:57.360 at time, designed a blueprint for an engine on a bicycle. Yes, 0:01:57.560 --> 0:02:01.840 he was from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and so Milwaukee, Wisconsin the 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:06.240 home of Harley Davidson. And at this point when he 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:10.480 patents this, motorcycles were already a thing. They existed. It's 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:15.040 not like Harley Davidson invented the motorcycle. They were pretty 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:17.440 popular in Europe, but they were still kind of an 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:20.640 oddity in the United States at this point. The first 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:24.200 motorcycle made in the US was from a company called 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:28.160 the California motor Company. That one produced a motorcycle called 0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:32.920 the Marks Motorcycle back in eighteen nineties six. So yeah, 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:37.360 it's the vehicle has been around for a while, but 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:41.280 obviously they did not, you know, make a stamp to 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:45.600 the point where they became synonymous with motorcycles. Nineteen o one, 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:47.840 by the way, is the same year that the Indian 0:02:47.840 --> 0:02:51.200 Motorcycle Company was formed, and that would remain the arch 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:57.200 nemesis to Harley Davidson for the up to now. Yes, 0:02:57.400 --> 0:03:00.120 um So, in nineteen o three, just two years after 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:04.120 this engine was designed, William Harley and Arthur Davidson, who 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:07.799 were actually childhood friends, made the first Harley Davidson motorcycle 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:10.280 public and they built it out of this little ten 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:13.440 by fifteen wooden shed with their name written on the 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:16.040 front of it. They didn't spring for a sign, at 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:18.320 least didn't say no girls allowed. It wasn't like it was. 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:21.440 I mean, you don't know that, I'm guessing. So that 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:26.400 first vehicle was essentially a motorized bicycle, so with like 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:29.960 a like a gasoline powered engine, the bike still had 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:32.320 pedals and still had a chain drive, and the rider 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:34.359 was meant to ride the bike. Get it up to 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:36.880 speed before engaging the engine. And in fact, you were 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:39.200 supposed to even pedal a bit if you ever hit 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:43.240 a steep incline. It couldn't go super fast. The prototype 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:46.400 version before they started making the production model, went about 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:49.320 the speed of a brisk walk. I mean, the thing 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:52.480 is you're saving some energy, which you're gonna need if 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:54.080 you've got to pedal up a steep hill. To me, 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:55.920 that's the part I want it taken off of me. 0:03:56.560 --> 0:04:00.520 Is a pedal assist bicycle. Well, they made three whole 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:04.560 motorcycles that first year slow down, I know, right, so 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:07.840 it's a very small number. But they were also building 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:11.240 those motors by hand. This wasn't like they had some 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:16.839 manufacturing facility. They were hand crafting these motorcycles, including the 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:20.240 motors themselves. Well, despite that, they opened their first dealership 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:24.240 just a year later in Chicago, yep. And then they 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:27.240 would find by nineteen o six they had the capital 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:31.479 to actually invest in better manufacturing facilities. Right, They ended 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:34.680 up getting a factory, and actual factory, not a shed. 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:37.080 I mean it was still kind of small. It was 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:39.360 pretty small you have here. It was twenty eight by 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:43.640 eight feet, yes, tiny, and they ended up tripling their 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:46.640 workforce because it went from two people to six, and 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:48.760 they more than tripled how many bikes they were making 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:51.400 because now they were up to making fifty bikes ye, 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:53.880 fifty bikes a year by nineteen o six, And in 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:57.360 nineteen o seven they would incorporate and the company would 0:04:57.440 --> 0:05:01.960 end up doubling in size by the number of dealerships 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:03.720 they ended up opening up more of those, and also 0:05:03.720 --> 0:05:07.120 by the number of employees. And they also brought on 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:11.000 another partner to the company, so it wasn't just Harley 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:14.520 and Davidson, it was also Davidson. Yeah, it was Harley, 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:18.200 Davidson and Davidson because it was Arthur Davidson's brother, William Davidson, 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:21.920 who joined. So then you have to Davidson's in a Harley. Yes, 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:23.960 I'm glad they did not change her name to Davidson 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:27.520 Harley Davidson. Yeah, that would have been odd. And one 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:31.279 of the things that the company became known for, it 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:35.760 became one of their really go to strategies was their participation, 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:39.080 their involvement in racing, and they were really good at 0:05:39.080 --> 0:05:41.880 it too, so they won a lot of categories in 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:46.159 racing and a lot of categories in endurance and reliability contests. Um, 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:48.520 and this was to kind of spread the word. Yeah, 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:50.800 it was like a marketing scheme. Yeah, because I mean 0:05:51.040 --> 0:05:55.400 people needed reliable transportation. They needed transportation they could keep 0:05:55.400 --> 0:05:58.160 it home and take from home, and especially if they 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:00.240 didn't live in a big city, Trains and street cars 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:02.920 weren't as much of an option and roads were not 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:06.039 in great shape either. No, and horses required you know, 0:06:06.120 --> 0:06:08.599 feeding and a lot of upkeeps. So they're trying to 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:11.400 turn this motorized bicycle from kind of a novelty to 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:15.320 something that every home needs. And at this stage, remember 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:19.360 we don't really have cars right there. There's some electric 0:06:19.360 --> 0:06:21.480 cars that had been made, and there were some there 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:24.880 were some internal combustion engine cars that were being made 0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:28.200 that they were oddities, even more so than motorcycles. They 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:31.920 were really expensive and they had very limited range, especially 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:36.839 the electric ones. Electric cars predate internal combustion engine cars. Yeah, 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:38.600 but people didn't want to use electric cars because I 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:41.719 thought they'd be too quiet and dangerous. Most come on, 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:44.960 mostly they thought I can get up the street, but 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:48.480 then I can't get back too. So this was one 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:52.800 of those moments where there was not really there weren't 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:55.520 really other options for a lot of people who needed 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:58.000 to be able to get from place to place. So 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:02.320 the motorcycle was actually looked at as a potential practical 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:05.800 vehicle for a lot of people. Yeah yeah, um, and 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:09.600 along the racing in Harley Davidson actually started their own 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:13.560 racing department. So Harley Davidson Owners and Harley's are kind 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:16.680 of called hogs. I've always heard them called hogs, and 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:19.600 I did not know why, and I love that there's 0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:24.520 a real reason. And then there's the retro fitted reason. Right, Yeah, 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:29.040 well they say that hog stands for Harley Owners Group. Um, 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:32.280 but the reason that I read is because there are 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:34.280 a couple of racing guys who, when they want to race, 0:07:34.400 --> 0:07:37.000 would take the little mascot of like a hog around 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:41.160 and take laps with a little pig. So so there 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:45.040 was a literal hog involved. I like that description better. 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:46.920 And then later on we said, how will we call 0:07:47.200 --> 0:07:49.840 say that hog stands for Harley Owners Group, kind of 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:53.480 like how Mickey Mouse Guy's name. There's there's some different 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:59.840 possible theories here. Uh. Milwaukee was starting to get receive 0:07:59.880 --> 0:08:01.840 a lot of benefit from the fact that Harley Davidson 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:05.120 was a growing industry out of their city. They were 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:11.520 the top consumer for gas and electric out of that city. Now, 0:08:12.320 --> 0:08:15.760 by nineteen seventeen, we start to see one of the 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:21.240 most important customers that Harley Davidson would ever have. In fact, 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:24.920 there are two big, big reasons why Harley Davidson was 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:28.320 able to make it out of the era of the 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:31.680 Great Depression, and one of the two is that the 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:37.079 US military became a really big customer for Harley Davidson. Uh. 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:41.240 By nineteen seventeen, we're talking about World War One and 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:45.440 the United States getting involved, and so the US signed 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:48.400 a contract with Harley Davidson and a third of all 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:51.840 the vehicles that Harley Davidson was producing, we're being sold 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:54.800 to the US military. Yeah. Well a year later, half 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:56.559 of all of their motorcycles were being sold to the 0:08:56.600 --> 0:08:59.840 military for World War One. That's like two motorcycles. That's 0:08:59.880 --> 0:09:03.959 a credible So we also got a point where the 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:08.560 company formed a an actual quartermaster's school, a way of 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:12.000 training military on how to work on Harley Davidson so 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:15.800 that they could remain in good service even overseas. Yeah, 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:17.920 and they kept this school even after the war, and 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:21.240 they they molded it to fit their needs at whatever time, 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:24.720 they were using it for service, for sales, for management. Um. 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:28.320 The school lasted until nineteen uh and it's still kind 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:31.880 of around, but now it's called Harley Davidson University. And 0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:34.080 it's funny. I like the little note you have here. 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:38.119 The war comes to a conclusion and the first American 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:42.920 to enter Germany post war rode upon Harley Davidson. Yes, 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:46.520 also at this point in nineteen seventeen, in or Is 0:09:46.559 --> 0:09:52.640 It Diversify sold more than just motorcycles. They also sold bicycles. Yep, 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:54.920 that's not bad. No, no, it's not so. The next 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:58.320 thing I personally laughed at was that in nineteen nineteen 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:00.360 they released a sports model which act really got a 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:04.520 lot of popularity overseas internationally. Oh and it's cylinder set 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:09.280 up made it pretty quiet, which harley Is apparently were 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:11.800 known for being quiet. They actually had the nicknames Silent 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:14.319 Gray Fellows Gray for the paint color they had when 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:16.480 they were first being made. And it's just funny to 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:20.880 me because now Harley's are like the loud motorcycle, right, 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:24.320 that's the stereotype, revving up the engine and creating this 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:28.480 incredibly loud racket. But yeah, the early Harley's were known 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:34.240 for being very quiet. By Harley Davidson had climbed the 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:37.280 top of the heap that there were other motorcycle companies 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:41.400 that were around at the same time as Harley Davidson 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:45.920 and Indian, but they they were first place. They were 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:49.080 the largest in the world. And not only did they 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:53.120 have dealerships in the United States, they had dealerships in 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:57.680 lots of countries, sixty seven countries. Yes. In fact, international 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:01.520 sales would become incredibly important. Yea. And even nowadays they 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:04.240 still have a lot of international sales. Yes. Now that 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:08.240 we've set the foundation for Harley Davidson, let's shake things 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:11.280 up right. So we have a company. It's it's gone 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:15.040 to the top of its industry. It's doing really well overseas. 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:19.400 It had this incredible uh sale to the United States 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:24.280 military during World War One. The problem starts in the 0:11:24.360 --> 0:11:27.120 nineteen twenties, so it's not yet the Great Depression that 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:32.160 starts in nine But the nineteen twenties, something else, a 0:11:32.240 --> 0:11:34.840 pair of something else has happened. First, there was a 0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:38.040 bit of a recession, but not the depression yet that 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:42.040 ended up curtailing a lot of consumer spending. People stopped 0:11:42.040 --> 0:11:44.600 spending as much money on stuff. But the other thing 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:49.200 was a guy, a little guy named Henry Ford comes 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:53.520 out with a brand new product, the Model T. Yeah, 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:56.840 so now cars are a competitor. It was cheaper and 0:11:56.880 --> 0:12:00.840 more practical the motorcycles. Yes, like I said, the electric 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:03.000 car had not made a whole lot of headway, it 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:07.040 did precede these internal combustion engine cars. The Model T 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:11.679 was able to succeed where other cars had failed, largely 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:16.680 because Ford was creating this assembly line approach that really 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:20.280 brought down the costs of manufacturing, so he could sell 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:23.000 the cars that much cheaper and still make a profit. 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:28.800 So Ford was a genius, a true genius from both 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:31.720 an engineering and a business perspective, and that he was 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:34.800 able to bring costs down to make a car affordable 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:40.959 to more Americans. And as a result, they saw, Hey, 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:43.840 there's this other vehicle, and I can put stuff in it. 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:46.040 I can put somebody else in it too. This was 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:48.760 something that the average person could actually go out and buy. 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:52.280 And so, yeah, a Model T ended up taking a 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:56.160 big chunk out of Harley Davidson's domestic sales in the 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:58.360 United States. Yeah, I actually got to see a Model 0:12:58.400 --> 0:13:01.720 T once at an anti car show up in North Georgia. Yeah, 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:04.640 every now and then on the streets you might see 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:07.560 one go by. Someone says, stored them. They are pretty cool. 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:09.880 I'm not a gearhead, but I'm gonna want to be gearhead. 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:16.120 So here we have this new form of transportation and 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:22.000 it's threatening the very business model of Harley Davidson. And 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:26.439 that's that's the big one punch. The big two punch 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:30.600 is just about to hit, and we'll talk about that 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:33.280 in just a minute, but first let's take a quick 0:13:33.320 --> 0:13:46.320 break to thank our sponsor. All Right, we got the 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:50.760 model t Harley Davidson has been knocked by that. What 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:53.640 is their response? What do they look for? Well, one 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:55.640 of the big things that they did is they started 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:59.280 convincing police departments to use their motorcycles as like a 0:13:59.360 --> 0:14:04.080 quick compact way to enforce law. Um. And this actually 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:07.640 was really really good for Harley Davidson because cops, you know, 0:14:07.679 --> 0:14:10.640 they put on their motorcycle boots and their little saddle bags, 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:13.520 and the general public thought they looked like cowboys. And 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:15.400 I thought that was pretty cool, and everybody wanted to 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:19.240 be this like quote unquote modern cowboy. I think that 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:24.000 really helped shape the look that we see around motorcycle 0:14:24.040 --> 0:14:26.720 culture too. Yeah, it's it's um how they kind of 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:29.760 modeled their whole accessory and clothing department to sell to 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:34.360 the public. So this this floats them over the slump 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:37.880 that they hit when they ford. But then they also 0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:41.640 started to depend very heavily upon those overseas markets. So 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:45.600 in the mid nineteen twenties, more than fifty five per 0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:49.760 cent of their sales were to foreign markets. So it's 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:52.920 an American company, but they're getting more than half of 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:58.800 their revenue from overseas sales, mostly in Australia and New Zealand. 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:00.880 You're brave to try to accent I would not be 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:02.280 able to do it. I have to get up the 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:06.160 wick in the morning. Uh So, one way the company 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:09.760 was able to boost sales domestically was again through those 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:14.880 community events like the racing events and motorcycle clubs as well. 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:18.680 Harley Davidson was very much encouraging motorcycle clubs because it 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:22.560 was a way to kind of have a grassroots marketing campaign. 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:27.480 But they also they depended heavily on their on their dealerships. 0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:31.240 There was a dealer guy named Bill nuth or Bill 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:35.360 Nuhs kay in ut h. He was in Milwaukee, and 0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:38.040 he created something that as I was looking into it 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:42.600 was repeatedly described as something like a circus, side show 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:47.440 and motorcycle festival all combined, called Nuth's College college spelled 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:49.640 with a cave. I mean, that's a college I'd like 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:51.960 to go to. Yeah, just saying apparently. There was a 0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:53.960 lot of good food and a lot of trick writing 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:56.640 and then motorcycle writing tips and things like that. So 0:15:57.000 --> 0:16:00.640 it was educational and it was also entertaineding and it 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:03.760 was a community event. So again it was all about 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:06.800 let's show people how cool motorcycles are and we can 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:10.920 help increase sales that way. Yeah, And in nine, sales 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:14.680 were increasing and more than twenty two thousand motorcycles were 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:17.640 being produced a year, which is not a huge jump 0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:21.400 from previous years if you look at today's production limits, 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:24.960 but it's still something worth remarking on. Yes, and then 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:29.760 the big number two punch hits. This is the Great Depression. 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:34.000 So on October ninety nine, what we also call it 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:37.480 Black Tuesday, that's when the stock market collapsed in the 0:16:37.600 --> 0:16:43.320 United States. Investors offloaded a collective sixteen million shares across 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:47.320 all companies. And this was the first real, big, major 0:16:47.400 --> 0:16:49.640 event of what we call the Great Depression. But it 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:52.560 wasn't until nineteen thirty nine that historians would say the 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:55.520 United States truly recovered from the Great Depression. It's you know, 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:57.640 it's easy to fall, it's a lot harder to climb 0:16:57.680 --> 0:16:59.960 back up, This is true. And to make things work. 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:04.879 This depression was way more than just a problem for 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:08.320 the United States. It was a worldwide problem. The US 0:17:08.359 --> 0:17:12.639 experienced it early, but other nations followed suit, and a 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:16.200 lot of foreign countries were starting to create very high 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:21.080 import taxes as a way to generate money for the governments, 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:24.639 but in another way to help kind of uh slow 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:30.000 down imports and rely more on internal resources. Right, So, 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:34.480 seeing import taxes go as high as sometimes fifty hurt 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:37.320 companies like Harley Davidson that were really dependent on those 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:40.639 overseas markets. And when Jonathan says hurt, he means really hurt, 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:43.840 because their sales dropped to less than one fifth of 0:17:43.840 --> 0:17:46.679 what they had been prior to the Great Depression. Yeah, 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:49.679 this is a point where the company really was on 0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:53.800 the verge of bankruptcy. And so what do you do 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:58.320 when your company is in these gyres straits. Well, one 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:00.640 thing you do is you tightened the belt, you lay 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:03.280 people off. Yeah, so a lot of people lost jobs. 0:18:03.280 --> 0:18:05.640 People who kept their jobs, some of them saw their 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:09.760 wages getting cut, their hours getting cut, their work getting 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:13.639 cut because company slowed production. Yeah. There was an account 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:16.280 I read by a guy named Joseph Borgan, who was 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:19.000 a He worked in the riveting department of Harley Davidson 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:22.560 during this time, and he said that there was one 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:27.199 two week period where his take home pay wass for 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:30.160 two weeks work. I mean, in the twenties and thirties, 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:33.440 that's a little more than it is now, but still 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:36.000 not nearly enough, not not enough for it to be 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:40.080 like two weeks worth of wages. And their production fell 0:18:40.440 --> 0:18:45.000 eighty one from nine to nine thirty three, that period 0:18:45.240 --> 0:18:49.480 of the most severe downturn in the Great Depression. Industrial 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:52.760 production in the United States in general, across all industries 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:56.920 fell by So this was not something unique to Harley Davidson. 0:18:57.440 --> 0:19:00.080 It was affecting lots of companies. Some were able to 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:02.520 manage a little better than others because they were making 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:06.840 necessities that people absolutely required, but no one was doing great. 0:19:07.119 --> 0:19:11.560 The gross domestic product for the entire country fell. Unemployment 0:19:11.600 --> 0:19:15.159 was hitting rates of up to It was not good. No, 0:19:15.240 --> 0:19:17.240 it was not good. So Harley Davidson did a few 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:21.600 things to get through this. Uh. They started selling their 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:24.320 blueprints and their tools and their machinery to Japan so 0:19:24.359 --> 0:19:27.679 that Japan could create its own motorcycles. Yes, they were 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:31.600 marketed under the Riku oh yes line r I k 0:19:32.040 --> 0:19:34.679 U O Yes. And And the other thing Harley Davidson 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:36.800 did is because they had built up dis good reputation 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:39.600 with the military and the police departments. Is they still 0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:44.360 maintain those relationships and maintained sales to those particular areas. Yes, 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:47.520 and that helped a little bit. Now, the common consumer 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:49.320 might not be able to buy a motorcycle, but the 0:19:49.359 --> 0:19:53.320 government still was and they were still doing this work 0:19:53.320 --> 0:19:56.520 with Japan as far into it as the mid to 0:19:56.600 --> 0:20:00.760 late thirties, although as tensions were building leading up to 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:04.399 World War Two that that relationship would break down. Uh. 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:09.560 The military designs were different, obviously from the consumer ones. 0:20:09.600 --> 0:20:11.720 It turns out that if you are designing a vehicle 0:20:11.760 --> 0:20:13.199 for the military, it has to be a little more 0:20:13.240 --> 0:20:16.520 heavy duty than your average consumer vehicle. Yes. Well, even 0:20:16.520 --> 0:20:19.880 though in World War One motorcycles were kind of designed 0:20:19.880 --> 0:20:21.800 for combat, and in World War Two they were designed 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:24.960 for like career services. You still need something that's reliable. 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:31.840 And by nine pretty much every single US motorcycle company 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:36.479 that was not Indian or Harley Davidson ceases to exist. 0:20:36.520 --> 0:20:39.560 The Great Depression was a large part of that, But 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:44.080 there was also the issue of which motorcycles were seen 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:48.679 as being the best performers, right, because all those races 0:20:48.720 --> 0:20:52.000 were frequently being won by people who were either on 0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:55.600 an Indian motorcycle or a Harley Davidson motorcycle. Now, Harley 0:20:55.760 --> 0:20:58.119 did sweep a lot of races. I'm just going to 0:20:58.240 --> 0:21:03.240 reiterate that. Yeah, all though part of that might be 0:21:03.240 --> 0:21:06.600 because Harley Davidson also had a reputation for brow beating 0:21:07.040 --> 0:21:12.840 motorcycle uh organizations, racing organizations to tweak the rules in 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:16.359 such a way that it favored Harley Davidson motorcycles over 0:21:16.680 --> 0:21:22.280 other him Indian motorcycles. Yeah, so some of the practices 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:24.560 in order to stay a float and now granted, you know, 0:21:25.160 --> 0:21:30.080 desperate times, but still kind of shady. Uh So they 0:21:30.240 --> 0:21:33.320 continued to encourage bike clubs to promote motorcycles and try 0:21:33.320 --> 0:21:37.480 and boost sales and they pressured the American Motorcycle Association 0:21:37.480 --> 0:21:40.720 to tweek those rules. I was just talking about, uh, 0:21:40.880 --> 0:21:43.800 And it's interesting I read one report that said, in hindsight, 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:48.600 the Great Depression forced Harley Davidson to reevaluate how it 0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:54.080 would market motorcycles to h the American market because this 0:21:54.080 --> 0:21:57.640 this sequence the Great Depression and World War Two meant 0:21:57.680 --> 0:22:00.520 that a law of their overseas markets were cut off them. Yes, 0:22:00.920 --> 0:22:03.959 and so they realized that we can't as a company 0:22:03.960 --> 0:22:07.560 really survive if that is how we turn our focus. 0:22:07.600 --> 0:22:12.480 Because when things go south, are are revenue source is 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:16.200 completely gone, we need to look how how can we 0:22:16.359 --> 0:22:20.360 market more to Americans as well? Yeah? Yeah, And then 0:22:20.600 --> 0:22:23.840 a lot of those companies that would have otherwise stuck 0:22:23.840 --> 0:22:26.399 around got scared off by the Great Depression. Some of 0:22:26.440 --> 0:22:30.080 them were worried that the downturn was gonna last eight 0:22:30.480 --> 0:22:33.960 ten years, whereas the downturn lasted four years, and then 0:22:34.200 --> 0:22:36.919 the Great Depression itself lasted a full decade. Because the 0:22:37.000 --> 0:22:39.119 recovery period was so long that some people were thinking 0:22:39.160 --> 0:22:41.439 things were just gonna keep getting bad, they were not 0:22:41.480 --> 0:22:43.360 going to get better. And so you had a lot 0:22:43.359 --> 0:22:46.400 of business owners saying all right, we're just gonna bail now, 0:22:46.760 --> 0:22:49.159 we're getting out the industry and we're going to focus 0:22:49.160 --> 0:22:52.880 on doing something else that is got a better chance 0:22:52.920 --> 0:22:56.640 of success. Yeah. Yeah, but Harley didn't. UM. Two, they 0:22:56.680 --> 0:22:59.760 created a three wheel server car, which, unlike their previous 0:22:59.760 --> 0:23:03.720 three beal vehicles, UM, wasn't meant to carry large amounts 0:23:03.720 --> 0:23:07.280 of product. Basically, yeah, it wasn't a delivery service. No. No, 0:23:07.359 --> 0:23:09.600 it was like a tricycle. It was like a police tricycle. 0:23:10.320 --> 0:23:12.120 But it was really popular with the police. In fact, 0:23:12.119 --> 0:23:15.240 they used them until nineteen seventies. Yep. I love the 0:23:15.280 --> 0:23:19.040 note here about the reverse controls. Why Why did these 0:23:19.119 --> 0:23:22.640 vehicles have reverse controls? Um? So that meter maids could 0:23:22.720 --> 0:23:25.359 drive the car and mark cars for ticketing at the 0:23:25.440 --> 0:23:28.240 same time. Yeah, making a little chalk mark on the 0:23:28.240 --> 0:23:30.480 wheel so that you can test it when you come 0:23:30.480 --> 0:23:33.520 back and see if the car has been moved or not. Yeah. Yeah, 0:23:33.960 --> 0:23:41.080 fun times, I mean pretty now. Ninety three the last 0:23:41.160 --> 0:23:44.840 year of the downturn. Remember, just a few years earlier 0:23:45.000 --> 0:23:49.639 they had produced twenty two thousand bikes. Three was a 0:23:49.760 --> 0:23:53.199 very different story. Yeah, they only produced four thousand bikes, 0:23:53.880 --> 0:23:58.080 but they did start producing more interesting bikes. Uh. They 0:23:58.119 --> 0:24:01.200 started adding an eagle image to their gas tank and 0:24:01.320 --> 0:24:04.480