Since it was after 5 p.m., the archive section was closed. Actually, I'm not even certain if the archive section is open to the general public. But there were a couple of windows that allowed you to look in to see some of the items they had in the area. These are a number of the old time posters and signs Harley-Davidson was restoring to eventually put on display. I can almost imagine the number of neat old things they have in the archives section.
Going up an elevator takes you to the third floor of the archive building and this is the motorcycle restoration area. This is where they house the overflow of the museum (remember, they have a model from every year Harley-Davidson has been in existence) and where they restore bikes that were either donated or rescued. This picture doesn't really show the size of the room and the amount of bikes they have in the area. These racks are three shelves tall and there had to be over 400 motorcycles in the room, either fully restored or getting ready to get restored.
The restoration area is fully temperature and humidity controlled. You can look into the room through windows to watch the workers restore old motorcycles to their original state. Each motorcycle that is restored is taken fully apart, meticulously cleaned and then put back together. If a part is missing, they locate a similar part in their restoration "bank". Sheet metal parts are never re-painted or stripped. Much of the original finish is retained by cleaning and only slight touch-ups of paint is used to help restore the original look. I don't know how many people work in the restoration area, but it was a pretty good sized work room.
Going back down the elevator to the second floor, then back across the sky-bridge to the museum, there's a hallway that has a display of a number of different types of the "teardrop" gas tanks Harley-Davidson has made over the years. Some are in custom colors with unique designs, while others are basic colors with the Harley-Davidson logo. As you can see, it's a pretty and colorful display of gas tanks.
Here's a picture of the gas tanks up close. This gives you an idea of the different types of colors and designs the company has used on their gas tanks over the years. At first I was thinking, "Oh, these are just gas tanks." But looking at them more closely, you find there's a lot of painstaking work that went into the artistic design of some of these tanks. It was actually kind of neat to see.
That was pretty much it for the second floor exhibits. It was down the industrial-type stairs to the first floor which housed the collection of motorcycles from 1950 to the present - the "Glory Days" of Harley Davidson.
The first floor of the museum was a modernistic, multi-media potpourri celebrating the golden years of Harley-Davidson. There were monitors showing movie clips of famous motorcycle movies such as Easy Rider, and The Wild One. Actually, a lot of these movies hurt Harley-Davidson's image because of the outlaw and gang element that Hollywood was trying to portray and glorify.
After World War II, highways were being built, gas was cheap and America was becoming a mobile society. Harley-Davidson had embarked on aggressive marketing campaign to show America the fun that motorcycles can bring. These are two models from 1951 along with a lot of ads and memorabilia from that time. The bikes became colorful and smaller, allowing for people even with the slightest build - including women - to have their own motorcycle.
Along with the rise in popularity of motorcycles as recreational entities, a number of people began to customize their bikes, giving their bikes their own personal signature. One such bike on display is the "King Kong", a motorcycle with two merged chassis' and a lot of accessorizing. This motorcycle, which was fabricated by a man from, I believe, Ohio, took four years to finish. It is garish, over-the-top and a remarkable engineering feat. The detail that went into the design and the accessorizing of the motorcycle is just dizzying.
The first floor also has a number of bikes on display from 1951 through today. Included were a number of sportster-type bikes Harley-Davidson began to build in the 60's to help stem the tide of the proliferation of Japanese-made motorcycles that began to gain significant market share in the 60's. Harley-Davidson sales plummeted and the company was eventually bought out by AMF. AMF immediately streamlined the operation, slashed the H-D work force, and began to make very inferior motorcycles. In the 12 years AMF owned Harley-Davidson, their motorcycles were no match in price and performance vs. their Japanese counterparts.
Some of the other things AMF tried to do with Harley-Davidson was to diversify their offerings. Also on display were a number of Harley-Davidson/AMF made products such as boats, golf cars and mini-bikes. With the company facing bankruptcy, AMF sold Harley-Davidson to a group of investors that included former executives of the original Harley-Davidson. Times were tough, initially. But Harley-Davidson was able to persevere and become one of the more remarkable success stories in the history of American manufacturing.
Rather than trying to emulate the smaller motorcycles from Japan, Harley-Davidson executives decided the road back to success pointed toward re-tooling their large bikes. This part of the museum showed a number of proto-type bikes they came up with over the years (as well as some possible designs we may see in the future). The formula must have worked as Harley-Davidson continues to show tremendous annual sales growth.
Back to some of the more interesting displays they had in the museum - the famous bikes they have on hand. The motorcycle shown on the left is a 100% fully brushed stainless steel motorcycle. The was quite a striking looking bike. This is a 2002 model that was made by Harley-Davidson as a 100 year anniversary model just to show that a fully stainless steel bike can be done. It was pretty cool and had to be pretty expensive.
This bike (with the picture courtesy of Popular Mechanics - the picture I took didn't come out well) was billed as the most decorated Harley-Davidson of all time. Yep, those are rhinestones adorning the bike - thousands of rhinestones. If I remember right, a husband and wife began to decorate the motorcycle with rhinestones and, well, it looks like it got a little out of hand. It was donated to the museum. I wouldn't want to get caught riding that bike in public. Would you?
This 1956 KH model was the first Harley-Davidson owned by Elvis Presley. The original invoice is also on display at the museum. Presley bought this bike from a Memphis area dealer just before the release of his first hit single "Heartbreak Hotel." Presley owned a number of larger Harley-Davidson motorcycles during his lifetime.
These two bikes are replicas of the ones used by Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper in the movie "Easy Rider". There were actually two motorcycles exact models of both bikes used in the movie. Two of the models were destroyed in the movie's climactic final scene, while the other two "mysteriously" vanished, no doubt taken by a crew member or members looking for a pricey souvenir of their work on the film.
This motorcycle I found to be somewhat interesting - mainly because it has an Iowa connection. This is a 1990 double-engined dragster that is believed to be the first Harley-Davidson to go under 8 seconds in a quarter-mile. The Iowa connection is that a Spencer, IA man - Gary Gilmore - made the bike in his welding and fabrication shop and raced the bike himself. This bike had two V-twin motors. I can't even imagine how loud that thing was when it was fully rapped out.
From some of the famous bikes on display on the first floor, there was a multi-media area that had a number of pictures, videos and other displays. There was a great video loop in this area that talked about the dark days of Harley-Davidson, the problems they were going through in the 60's, the subsequent sale to AMF, the buying back of the company by investors, and the problems they had in getting financing to keep the company going in the 80's. The picture at the right shows a back-lit picture wall that also had a number of small video screens interspersed that showed owners of their Harley-Davidson's over the years.
This motorcycle and sidecar is a 2003 commemorative bike that has the signature of every Harley-Davidson employee on it for the 100 year anniversary of the company. At first, I thought it was just a weird design on the bike and sidecar, but then I saw that the decorations were actually signatures in a gold color. Then I read the sign which told me the story behind the bike and sidecar. I thought it was pretty cool.
The last stop one the first floor is an interactive display that allows people to get on different types of motorcycles and get the feel of driving while looking up at a big screen. I thought it was kind of hokey, but it's probably pretty big with the kids.
That was it for the main part of the museum. In the third part of my visit to the Harley-Davidson museum, I'll take you over to the gift shop, snack shop and restaurant/bar they have on the premises.
Wow! What a sight to behold! It is such a joy to see beautiful bikes in one place. And not just ordinary bikes, but legendary cycles that are quite famous in motorcycle history! And I think walking through the displays can make you see how bikes evolved from its humble beginnings to road giants of today.
Posted by: Erik Lucien | December 18, 2012 at 03:21 PM
Ahhh!! The Harley-Davidson Museum! It’s one of the dream places that my father and I would really want to visit! You’ll really see the different Harley models in there. From the vintage to the latest models. I imagine we’ll totally be in awe of what we see when we go there, and that’s for sure!
Posted by: Clare Westby | December 27, 2012 at 11:07 AM
It would really be great if I saw those gas tanks up close and personal! They all look cool! For sure, a lot of people who went there somehow got an idea on how they are going to design their own gas tank as well!
Posted by: Claudio Mccarty | January 14, 2013 at 07:30 AM