In 1943 , George Hendee , cocreator of Indian , quietly passed at the age of 76 . A few months later , William Harley died of a heart attack . These men , who had been there from the very beginning , made motorcycle history and left indelible marks on the American motorcycle industry .
War production for Harley- Davidson amounted to 89,000 WLA and WLC models and enough spare parts for nearly 30,000 more . Indian built 42,000 machines : mostly the 500cc 741 model , but also 340 / 344 sidecar rigs , 841 models , and the 45ci Scout- based 640 series , plus gobs of spare parts . Additionally , about 3,000 bikes went to France for “ essential ” purposes in Europe .
In the spring of 1944 , with the tide of the war turning in the Allies ’ favor , all open- ended military procurement orders were canceled , leaving things in a messy situation . Thousands of machines in Europe and here at home were suddenly “ surplus .”
In the U . S ., 15,000 H- Ds and 7,500 Indians were offered for sale in batches of a dozen . Dealers snapped up most of them , with a Harley dealer in Santa Ana acquiring a lion ’ s share . The same thing happened a year later , with 10,000 out of 15,000 Indians offered going to Canada and some of those sent to Britain . Much of Indian ’ s surplus was also shipped to Russia , Australia , and New Zealand .
Indian trumpeted its war involvement in consumer outreach , describing its motorcycles as ones “ you will be proud to own when this war is finally won .”
companies once production ramped up to nearly three times what it had been . H- D production initially was hindered because Harley had rented out part of its Juneau Avenue factory .
Many claimed stress was to blame when Walter Davidson died on Feb . 7 , 1942 , at the same age as his brother . The mercurial , ironfisted leader of the Motor Company had been a steady hand on the tiller at H- D for 35 years . In many ways , it was Walter who waged an undeclared war on any motorcycle maker he perceived as a threat .
POST-WAR ERA Once the war ended , the pent- up demand for cars meant the auto industry could sell everything it could build . Auto production cranked up so fast that the total production by all makers at the end of 1946 was estimated to be a stunning 6.8 million !
Meanwhile , there was a worldwide glut of surplus motorcycles . With so many motorcycles and not so many riders , the battle for the future of American motorcycling would be to find a way of getting more butts on the seats of motorcycles . Stay tuned for our next chapter as we examine how motorcycle companies navigated the post- war era .
24 | OCTOBER 2023 | AMERICANRIDER . COM