The 1930's saw Harley-Davidson break more speed records.
In 1932 the three-wheel Servi-Car was introduced which would become a common police and commercial vehicle.

In 1936 the Knucklehead was launched and the Panhead followed in 1947. 
This machine made the Harley-Davidson American's motorcycle of choice.
During World War II the Harley took an active roll. Civilian production was just about suspended and all efforts were concentrated on war production.
Once the war was over in 1945 civilian production commenced again.
In 1949 the Hydra-Glide was introduced using hydraulic front forks.

The 1950’s were not a good time at Harley-Davidson.
The British with their Triumph and BSA motorcycles had 40% of the market.
These were smaller, lighter and in some cases faster bikes.
This problem was met head on and in 1957 with the introduction of the Sportster.
The English stayed on the scene until the Japanese bikes hit the market in the early 60’s.
They were small, under powered but cute and did a lot to bring motorcycle to the attention of
the general public.
However they didn't stay small and cute very long.
Companies like Honda, Kawasaki and Suzuki learned real fast and made some real 
fast motorcycles.
Harley was almost put under at this time but they fought back.
In 1969 Harley Davidson merged with American Machine and Foundry Company.
This merger gave them needed cash but produced some poorly built bikes and Harley’s reputation suffered greatly.
Harley-Davidson did survive and in 1971 the “Cruiser” was born. It was a sporty looking bike with the frame and power train of the FL series.
This motorcycle was a great success and enabled Harley-Davidson to move to a 400,000 square foot plant in York, Pennsylvania.
The 1970's saw Harley win a great many races including four consecutive years of winning the AMA Grand National Championships in dirt track racing.
I will leave the history of the Harley-Davidson at this point with saying that from here on Harley-Davidson never looked back.
There are many other good web sites that will take you beyond the 1970's

 Click on this image for a larger view in a new window

This Harley was owned by the late Mike Ornot Sr of Charleroi Pa. 
and was submitted by his son Mike 
The Harley was purchased from Cerini Harley-Davidson, Donora Pa, which is the original  store and is still standing. 
It is owned by the same family next generation down 
This HD Shop is the oldest know HD shop 

1948 was the first year for the " tin top" overhead valve version of the bike.
These were offered in both 61 CI and 74 CI models.
Flathead side valve motors were still very popular during the 40's,
The displacement of the flatties ranged from 45", 74" to 80" but heat and oiling issues favored the OHV design.
Typically, police departments would order the E type motors, or 61Ci
This was both utilitarian and less expensive, but the 61s had a smaller lift cam that allowed the bikes
easier starting in hotter conditions. Stop and Go stuff...
Now, 1948 was an unusual year, because it was also the last year for the Spring Fork front end, but first year PANHEAD!!
Over zealous  engineers at the factory were always a little ahead with design, This was evident in 1965, when a frame change, electrical change, and design change pre-dated the
shovel head intro in '66.
And historically, you can see that the production guys were busy selling in stock, manufactured inventory. David Monahan, Harley expert and noted restorer owns a 1949 Spring Fork Panhead.
Sometimes the right hand doesn't want to know what the left hand is doing...Especially when there are paychecks involved.
In 49, the Hydra-Glide was introduced which, by definition, was the first hydraulic suspension bike produced by the factory.
Similarly, the Duo-Glide trademark was introduced in 1958 and had BOTH  front and rear suspension.
The Electra-Glide surfaced in 1965, 12 volt system and frame change were introduced.
Unfortunately, the Shovelhead design was only still on the drawing board.
Or, as I might guess, they simply wanted to use up the existing inventory of Panhead motors sitting around.

The bike has only 4,150 of this model were made. It had sat outside neglected for 18+ years when I got it and even had a mouse living in the muffler. I completely disassembled it and slowly started restoing it one piece at a time. First was powdercoating the frame & swingarm. I did change a few small things from the original stock, like making it a solo seater (seat from a modern day Sportster) with a luggage rack (from a Softail) along with chroming some parts (triple tree, chain guard, tail light & other small pieces) that were originally painted black. Instead of chroming the spokes I had them done in black oxide & the spoke nipples done in yellow zinc. The metal tank emblems were originally supposed to be decals, but are the correct design style for the bike. The headlight trim ring is from a modern day Sportster that has the same headlight bucket ( I think it looks better than the original double rings). The tail light chrome ring is actually a speedometer gauge bezel and is also from a modern day Sportster (diameter was too perfect to pass that up). The vintage correct license plate I found at a swapmeet , and the license plate frame to fit it (this was the hardest piece to find for the restoration project) is from a Harley dealership from the 1960's, Skip Fordyce Harley Davidson in 

  I must give thanks to Leslie, the owner of " Moto-Italia "  in Petaluma, Calif. USA for all his knowledge about these bikes that I managed to pick out of his head. After dozens of lengthy phone conversations I met him in person and he is a great person to know. If anyone has "any"  model Aermacchi - Harley and needs anything for it he is the #1 person on the planet to contact. If he doesnt have what you need he will know where to get it.  His website is www.motomacchi.com