I got my first NEW one ( 1976 XLCH ) from Detroit HD ( formerly owned by Earl Robinson ) and it wasn't the size of today's "supermarket stores" ... a LOT HAS CHANGED OVER THE YEARS.

Here's a bit about the Robinson's ... If you've ridden for a long time you may have heard of her.
http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/asp/...age1.asp?id=78

 

Nah, all informed H-D riders know they wouldn't be riding an H-D (not one newer than about 45 years old anyway) if it hadn't been for AMF. Funny, I actually see a lot of people have the old AMF logos painted on their bikes (and even some motorclothes), whether it was of that period or not and flaunting it with pride...

 

Ordered mine while I was overseas chasing Charlie and the Little People. When I came home at the end of November '69, a brand new 70 FLH was waiting. Got ugly quickly when the front motor mount busted. Dealership (Sam Arena HD, San Jose) blamed it on my riding style and said the cost to fix would be on me.

Dad helped me take the motor apart, and it turned out the flywheels were not even close to be being correctly balanced. Go to the dealership, show/explain the issue and they now say ...you just voided the warranty, so you now eat it all. Fixed the problem with the flywheels, had the cases welded, put it back together, sold it and replaced it with a 65 pan that I still have today.

Swore off AMF...until I found this

...the after I brought her home, cleaned her up, spent nine months and fixed what needed to fixed to make it rideable again and she purrs like a kitten.



...sitting for just over 30 years, in a garage, behind tons of $hit. Just over 10K on the original speedo. Took just about 25 minutes to get running and oil and gas came out of every opening possible due to rotted lines, dried up gaskets and such.

So yeah, AMF was an intergal part of keeping the Brand, but quality control was a serious issue and snowmobiles and golf carts didn't do too much to making them credible.

 

I've owned motorcycles my entire life. In 1996, I decided to leave sportbikes and get a Harley. I called around to a few dealers around Atlanta to see how long it would take. They all pretty much said that I had to put a $500 deposit down to get on the list. I was interested in a Softail and they said it could take up to a year. They quoted me the price on a Fatboy which was more than $4k over MSRP. I hung up the phone and didn't think about a Harley again until 2002. I put my name on the list for a Gun Metal Blue 2003 Fatboy at a local HD Dealer. After 2 months, I bought a 2000 FLSTC with 1600 miles on it. I went all the way to Indiana to pick it up. 2 weeks later the dealer called and the 2003 had come in but I passed on it. Kept the Heritage a year, sold it for what I paid for it, and bought an '02 Road King with 1000 miles on it. Owned that bike 10 years and sold it to a buddy.

 

That's the truth, right there.

Back in the day, the HD dealership was generally a "wrong side of the tracks" sort of operation. Nothing like the palaces we see today.

 

So yeah, AMF was an intergal part of keeping the Brand, but quality control was a serious issue and snowmobiles and golf carts didn't do too much to making them credible.
... Many different views/aspects/opinions on this subject but a reminder that AMF was merely a "holding company" and had little to nothing to do with the manufacturing of the scooter ... it was still in the hands of the original company.

 

I was just thinking about how I got my first Harley the other day. I rode Honda's and Suzuki's since I was 16. Always had a bike, sometimes also had a car.

I got out of the service in 1986, worked stateside for a few years then moved to Guam (yeah, because of a girl). I came back to the states in 1993 and started saving for my first Harley. At that time there were three dealers in the Phoenix area.

In May, 1994 I went to the closest dealer (Chosa's) and told them I wanted to buy a new bike. They said they weren't starting an order list until June 1st. I went back on June 1st and they said the list was already full. I went to the next closest dealer (Stubbs) and their list was full too. By the way, they wouldn't let you see "the list".

I went to the third dealer (Glendale) and asked about getting on their list, the owner said they weren't using a list. They were taking orders on June 15th, first come first served - like concert tickets. I camped out in the parking lot starting at 5:00 pm the night before and was the second person in the door when they opened up at 8:30 in the morning to put down a $1000 deposit.

They asked if I had a color preference, I said 2 tone red. They said they would try, but I would have to take whatever color came in. They called me in November to tell me my black 1995 Wide Glide was ready for pickup. I don't even think I felt the cold riding it home.

This pic was taken about two years later:

 

In 95 my brother and I had a nice score off a big job. Decided to get ourselves new hogs. Went to the dealer ready to buy 2 and was told we could put a $500 deposit and select model and color and should get our bikes in about a year but color could not be guaranteed nor model for that matter. We wound up on metrics...

 

I got my first Harley in 2010 a gift from my son its a 02 FLHT and I love this bike I ridden since I was 7 started with a Sears Allstate 125 and several other Metrics through the years alway wanted a Harley but had a family to care for Then one day my youngest bought me my first one couldnt have been happier

 

but not as ugly as some of the parts on my '78 XLCH. I stayed away from Harleys for 25 years before buying my '04 Road King, which I still have.