From golf carts to utilicars: Harley -Davidsons weirdest Side Hustles – Jalopnik

As a motor builder, Harley-Davidson, including all brands under the umbrella, is a unique American success story. Of course there were some dark chapters, such as the era of AMF’s ownership in the 1970s, but in general Harley built a directly identifiable brand with character and an infrastructure of events and companionship that is unparalleled. That said, when the Bar & Shield take away from two -wheeled conveyor belts with gasoline, the success is often with mixed results.

Fans of other motorcycle brands such as Husqvarna or Honda can show their solidarity by not only riding their motorbikes, but cutting their grass with lawn mowers from those manufacturers. However, did you know that Harley-Davidson was also involved in the Maaiman for about ten years in the 1930s. The Worthington Mower Company was a company that produced a large commercial mower called the transferreds for cutting huge areas such as public fields and new fangled golf courses.

In 1929, Harley-Davidson was contracted to build a cylinder side valve (aka flathead) engines for these industrial powerful mowers. Prior to Harley’s involvement in Worthington, the engines were provided by Archrival Indian. We are sure that the extra income from making mowers came in handy for Harley during the lean economic times of the great depression, so this product was not exactly a flop. Yet the brand chose to give his focus mainly to motorcycles towards the end of the 1930s.

If you are a Harley fan that would rather rearrange on the water than cutting grass, the company has also covered you there. In 1962 Harley-Davidson was financially involved with Tomahawk Boat Manufacturing Corp. From Wisconsin and shortly later expanded his ownership of Tomahawk into a complete subsidiary. In mid -1965, HD completely stopped making boats to concentrate exclusively on parts for motorcycles and other products that did not drove. Rather disappointing, Tomahawk Runabout boats were powered by conventional Evinrude outboard engines and not Staccato HD V-twin.

If it is not your jam, what about taking the air? Around the time that Tomahawks-boats was destroyed, Harley began to make the LR-64 rocket engine. Unfortunately, the plane were driven by the LR-64 all drones that were used without mercy for goal practice during military training exercises. Although certainly not the largest rocket engines there are, this production company must have been lucrative, because it went well into the 1990s.

It is not well known these days, but Harley-Davidson was actually very successful in making golf cart-hurls a flop. The company started with a three-wheeled petrol-driven version in 1963 and in the early 1970s, both electric models and carts with four wheels were available. However, it is the early models that were particularly quirky. For example, in order to switch between forward and reverse, the driver first had to completely close the gasoline engine. Steering was via a tiller lever, such as that of a boat, which was mounted in the middle of the dashboard between the driver and passenger.

The production of golf cart took place after Harley-Davidson was sold to AMF, but by the early 1980s the recreational conglomerate from the Golfkar Biz wanted. In 1982, AMF’s Golf Cart Division – started under HD’s custody – was sold to Columbia Par Car. Some collectors still consider those PAR cars from the 1980s as a continuation of the HD line until the engine was later switched to an everyday 9-HP Briggs & Stratton type and the three-wheeled model has disappeared.

An outlet of the HD Golf Cart production was the utilicar of the brand, which was based on underlying golf cart. The miniature vehicle debuted in 1966 and was built until at least 1980. Think of the stereotypical reduction vehicle that a clerk or post carrier could ride a decades ago. Although they were made by Cushman, the concept is extremely comparable. HD’s “Utilicar” contained a covered cabin, 750 pounds of weight capacity and various configurations of freight bed configurations. Although many were on gas, electric versions were also available for indoor use, such as in factories.

Okay, now we go to a real flop for Harley-Davidson: the line of scents. In the mid -1990s, the Harley brand was absolutely at its peak. It may be hard to believe because of today’s lens, but buyers were willing to pay much more than full selling price at the time to get a brand new large twin like the fat boy who is immortalized in “Terminator 2”, although it was reportedly difficult to handle. The alternative to paying a Flipper premium was to participate in a waiting list that could wait for months.

Drunk from that success, the company collaborated with L’Oréal to develop scents for both men and women who use the product name Hot Road with the corresponding slogan, “The Sent of Freedom.” Yes, seriously. The individual scents were cleverly called the Destiny Man, Destiny Woman, Cool Spirit and Black Fire, to name just a few.

Admittedly, some Harley super fans are willing to buy a lot of nonsense only because it contains the bar and the shield logo, but perfumes and Cologne were too far a bridge. Real Harley scents are gasoline, oil and leather, no pineapple and lavender with mushed undertone. Apparently the sale of Hot Road was so matte that the product can be seen in the Museum of Failure. Although you have to travel to Helsinborg, Sweden, to view the exhibition.