This is an IHeart podcast.

And we continue with our American stories.

When Margie Siegel was a teenager, she had a boyfriend with a motorcycle.

The boyfriend, he was forgettable. The motorcycle? Well, it wasn't.

Since that time, she's written about motorcycle history for classic bike, for motorcyclist,

motorcycle collector, American Iron, and motorcycle classics.

She is also vintage editor for Ironworks Motorcycle

Magazine. Here she is with the story of Harley Davidson.

If you ask a non-motorcyclist to name a brand of motorcycle, any motorcycle, any type of motorcycle,

the first name that comes to mind and probably the only name is Harley Davidson.

Harleys are not only well known, they inspire a lot of passion.

How many other company's logos are tattooed on people's

biceps? Motorcycles. There is something about motorcycles. The experience of moving

through the air at speed that attracts people. And if there is something about motorcycles in general,

there is more than a mere something about Harley Davidson motorcycles.

Harley Davidson has been building motorcycles for well over a century, and in that time its products have acquired an aura.

People who ride Harleys are seen as bad and antisocial and a lot of other things, even though they in real life, they're accountants.

When most people look at a Harley, they are a theme, not just a vehicle, but a cultural icon.

It wasn't always like this.

When the Davidson brothers and their friend William Harley started out to build motorcycles at the turn of the 20th century.

They were only one of over 100 small American motorcycle factories all scheming and competing and trying to make it big.

Out of all those aspiring U.S. businesses, only Harley Davidson has continuously made

...