Harley and the Biker Wars - The British Invaders | 1
Business Wars
Audible
4.6 • 13.5K Ratings
🗓️ 14 August 2019
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
By the late 1940s, Harley-Davidson has become America’s leading motorcycle manufacturer. The family-owned Milwaukee brand has battled hundreds of companies since its first bike rolled out of a backyard shack in 1903. Now they’re facing the birth of the outlaw bikers, disenfranchised WWII vets who love their Harleys—and love to cause trouble. It’s an association that conservative Harley owners can’t stand.
And fierce competition is coming in from British bike makers. Triumph is churning out lightweight, sporty machines that are the polar opposite of Harley’s heavy hogs, and everyone is vying for a piece of the lucrative U.S. market. Things get so cutthroat that Harley-Davidson appeals to the government. It’s an appeal that will not have happy results for the Milwaukee contingent. And the problems are just beginning.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, prime members, you can listen to business wars, add free on Amazon music. |
| 0:04.8 | Download the app today. |
| 0:15.1 | It's a sultry Friday night, the 4th of July 1947 in Hollister, California, population |
| 0:20.8 | 4,500. |
| 0:22.5 | This normally quiet town known for growing garlic is thrumming with the sound of thousands |
| 0:28.1 | of bikers revving engines as they roar into town and head for the bars. |
| 0:34.1 | It's not long before a rowdy crowd spills out of the bars after having had a few too many, |
| 0:39.5 | creating a drunken ruckus on Main Street. |
| 0:42.0 | And that gets the attention of two journalists assigned to cover this gathering. |
| 0:47.2 | They approach one of the bikers. |
| 0:49.1 | It's Eddie Davenport and he's leaning on his Harley and guzzling beer. |
| 0:53.2 | Excuse me buddy, I'm JC Dodie, San Francisco Chronicle. |
| 0:57.1 | This is my photo man Bob Peterson. |
| 0:59.0 | Can we get a few shots of you on your, what is it, a Harley Davidson? |
| 1:03.2 | Sure is, snap away boys. |
| 1:06.9 | Just to dress up the scene a bit for effect, the photographer adds a few more beer bottles |
| 1:12.2 | before shooting. |
| 1:14.2 | So how do I look? |
| 1:17.0 | Eddie's shirt is unbuttoned, his gut is hanging out. |
| 1:20.4 | He hoists beers in both hands. |
| 1:22.9 | He stares into the camera with a blank expression of a man best described as completely hammered. |
| 1:30.0 | One of these photos is about to make Harley history. |
... |
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