Harley and the Biker Wars - The Hog Is Born | 2
Business Wars
Audible
4.6 • 13.5K Ratings
🗓️ 19 August 2019
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s 1903, and Harley-Davidson is entering the spanking new motorcycle market. Of the hundreds of fledgling brands, the bike to beat is Indian, and Harley has the company in its crosshairs. But a decade later, Harley is on the defensive, scrambling to distance itself from the deadly sport of board track racing and solidify its image as a respectable brand.
Indian has its own image problem when Mexican rebel leader Pancho Villa starts leading charges on a Powerplus model. But when the U.S. sends General Blackjack Pershing to hunt Villa down, Pershing’s troops are riding Harleys.
But World War I proves a decisive turning point as both companies fight their way closer to the top of the motorcycle world.
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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. Download the app today. |
| 0:15.6 | In a small treeless backyard in Milwaukee in 1903 two young men are tinkering with something in a hot grubby 10 by 15 foot shed |
| 0:25.0 | painted on the front door is Harley and |
| 0:27.7 | Davidson motor company |
| 0:30.0 | Bill Harley and Arthur Davidson have been paled since they were kids. They've been working on this project for two years |
| 0:36.5 | Give me that oil. Where's the wrench? |
| 0:39.2 | Hand me a rag, will you? |
| 0:41.7 | What they've come up with looks like a sturdy bicycle with a small motor and a one gallon gas tank |
| 0:48.7 | Harley makes a final adjustment |
| 0:51.2 | Well, Art |
| 0:53.2 | It's taken a while, but I think this thing is done. Let's get Walter to take a look |
| 0:58.1 | Hey Walter get in here |
| 1:01.2 | Arthur Davidson's older brother Walter joined the project a few months ago as soon as Walter walks in and spots the bike |
| 1:08.4 | He raises his eyebrows |
| 1:11.4 | Damn your boys did it your carburetor is that a tomato can Arthur? Yeah, it'll work for now |
| 1:19.5 | That's ingenuity for you pretty soon Indians going to be eating our dust |
| 1:24.7 | In 1903 there are dozens of upstart companies turning bicycles into motorbikes |
| 1:31.3 | Indian is the brand to beat a year earlier it manufactured 142 machines and they're selling |
| 1:39.8 | Bill Harley looks despondently at his second-hand lay than a drill press on its last legs |
| 1:46.4 | Catch Indian Walt. We're gonna need real tools and plenty of money and I'm not exactly an engineering genius, you know |
| 1:54.0 | It's true |
| 1:55.4 | But big brother Walters got a plan. He's a railroad mechanic, which means access to large tools on his off hours |
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