As a motorcycle builder, Harley-Davidson, including all the brands under its umbrella, is a uniquely American success story. Sure, there were some dark chapters, like the era of AMF's ownership in the 1970s, but overall, Harley built an instantly identifiable brand with character and an infrastructure of events and camaraderie that's unmatched. That said, when the Bar & Shield ventures away from gasoline-powered two-wheeled conveyances, its success often meets mixed results.
Fans of other motorcycle brands like Husqvarna or Honda can show their solidarity by not only riding their motorbikes, but cutting their grass with lawnmowers from those manufacturers. However, did you know that Harley-Davidson was also involved in the mowing business for about a decade during the 1930s? The Worthington Mower Company was a business that produced a large commercial mower called the Overgreen for cutting vast areas such as public fields and newfangled golf courses.
In 1929, Harley-Davidson was contracted to build single-cylinder side-valve (a.k.a. flathead) engines for these industrial-strength mowers. Prior to Harley's involvement with Worthington, the engines were provided by archrival Indian. We're sure that the extra revenue from making mower engines came in handy for Harley during the lean economic times of the Great Depression, so this product wasn't exactly a flop. Still, the brand opted to return its focus primarily to motorcycles by the end of the 1930s.
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If you're a Harley fan who'd rather be recreating on the water than cutting grass, the company has got you covered there, too. In 1962, Harley-Davidson became financially involved with Tomahawk Boat Manufacturing Corp. of Wisconsin and a short while later, expanded its ownership of Tomahawk into a wholly owned subsidiary. By mid-1965, H-D stopped making boats altogether to focus exclusively on parts for motorcycles and other products that didn't float. Rather disappointingly, Tomahawk runabout boats were powered by conventional Evinrude outboard motors and not a staccato H-D V-twin.
If the lake isn't your jam, how about taking to the skies? Around the time that Tomahawks boats went defunct, Harley started making the LR-64 rocket engine. Unfortunately, the aircraft powered by the LR-64 were all drones that were unceremoniously used for target practice during military training exercises. Though certainly not the largest rocket engines around, this manufacturing venture must have been lucrative, because it continued well into the 1990s.
It's not widely known nowadays, but Harley-Davidson was actually highly successful in the business of making golf carts — hardly a flop. The company started with a three-wheeled gasoline-powered version in 1963 and by the early 1970s, both electric models and carts with four wheels were available. However, it's the early models that were particularly quirky. For example, to shift between forward and reverse, the driver had to completely shut down the gasoline engine first. Steering was via a tiller handle, like a boat's, that was mounted dead center on the dashboard between the driver and passenger.
Golf cart production continued after Harley-Davidson was sold to AMF, but by the early 1980s, the recreation conglomerate wanted out of the golf cart biz. In 1982, AMF's golf cart division — started under H-D's tutelage — was sold to Columbia Par Car. Some collectors still consider those 1980s Par Cars to be a continuation on the H-D lineage until the engine was later switched to a mundane 9-horsepower Briggs & Stratton type and the three-wheeled model disappeared.
An offshoot of the H-D golf cart manufacturing was the brand's Utilicar, which was based on golf cart underpinnings. The miniature vehicle debuted in 1966 and was built until at least 1980. Think of the stereotypical diminutive vehicle that a decades-ago meter attendant or mail carrier might drive. Although those were made by Cushman, the concept is extremely similar. H-D's "Utilicar" featured a covered cab area, 750-pound weight capacity, and several different cargo bed configurations. Although many were gas-powered, electric versions were also available for use indoors, such as inside factories.
Okay, now we're getting to a real flop for Harley-Davidson: it's line of fragrances. In the mid-1990s, the Harley brand was absolutely at its peak popularity. It might be hard to believe through the lens of today, but buyers at the time were willing to pay far in excess of full retail price to get their hands on a brand-new Big Twin like the Fat Boy immortalized in "Terminator 2," though it was reportedly difficult to handle. The alternative to paying a flipper premium was to join a waiting list that could mean months of waiting.
Drunk off that success, the company partnered with L'Oréal to develop scents for both men and women using the product name Hot Road with the accompanying slogan, "The Scent of Freedom." Yes, seriously. The individual scents were cleverly named Destiny Man, Destiny Woman, Cool Spirit, and Black Fire, just to name a few.
Granted, some Harley superfans are willing to buy a lot of crap just because it contains the Bar and Shield logo, but perfumes and cologne were a bridge too far. True Harley scents are gasoline, oil, and leather, not pineapple and lavender with mossy undertones. Apparently, sales of Hot Road were so lackluster that the product is featured in the Museum of Failure. Though you'll have to travel to Helsinborg, Sweden to check out the exhibit.
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