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O'Brien Harley-Davidson's War Eagle

William and John Davidson are fired Part V

On the road as a H-D service rep

I get issued a Chevy Impala and I'm out to serve 120 dealers in thirteen states and all of Canada from Michigan across North Dakota… I was glad to get out of that depressing factory. I was one of only four service reps in USA. I talked the factory into letting me move the family to Indianapolis, which made my wife happier and put me in the middle of my service area. 1971was about all gone and the New 1972 models were about to come out including the new all aluminium XR-750. I was gone on average about two weeks at a time and, as you can guess, I had to deal with the same problems I saw at the factory. Answering service calls at factory was easy compared to being in field. At the factory we were trained to say one thing: "We never heard of that problem, are you sure it's not rider abuse?". In the field it smacked you right in the face. You had dealers that were mad as hell with bikes down and customers wanting their money back. Right off the line my credibility was on the line. The dealer network gossip line was fast and the word was soon out that either you were an OK guy the dealers could depend on or just another factory jerk... You had to be honest in that the dealer wouldl get free warranty parts to fix the bike and some means to subsidize not getting Labour Warranty. The big problem was helping the dealer without letting the factory know everything…

After a few weeks, I'm off to Harley-Davidson's first International Convention at the Grand Bahamas Island. None of the factory employee’s wives were allowed to go, as it was business only. I got home to pack and my wife feathers were up and she dropped the bombshell on me. She said she called John Davidson's wife and let her have it about her not being able to go to GBI. The first thing I thought was “oh God I'm fired”!! I asked her what she said and Nancy told me John's wife informed her husband that if he thought he was going to save money on her he was crazy, as she and her daughter were going to Paris to buy a new wardrobe... I never heard about it from John but while in GBI I kept my distances. I guess you guys know how women are. I was once asked the difference between a woman and a pit bull seeking revenge? Answer is the woman wears lipstick!!!

All hell breaks loose at Harley-Davidson

In part IV I explained what was going on in the factory but when I got back from the Grand Bahamas Island and into my service, dealers were screaming their heads off. First the Big Twins were sending the compensating sprocket through the primary case, pinion and cam gears were rattling like mad, others sounding like the lifters were dropping. Second problem was the Sportster clutch that wouldn't work; transmission gears shedding their teeth and some engine had dirty big holes in the pistons. I rushed back to the factory, grabbed some engineering and test reports and went to see my old NASA buddy in QC.

We did find the problems… the Big Twin compensating Sprocket, designed by engineering, wouldn't work and testing proved it but engineering put it in production anyway . It was the same with the Sportster's clutch and distributor cam that had an excessive dwell, causing head temperature to go from 300 deg to 600 degrees and holing the pistons… The gears on the Sportster were also not heat treated properly and the Rockwell was way too hard, causing them to chip. The Big Twin gears pitch diameter was out of round making the lifters drop. My QC buddy said that's not all and he lead me to the experiential dept and showed me what was supposed to be the new 1972 V-1000 cc OHC Sportster designed by the same engineers. The engine was 60deg V-twin single overhead cam. The crankcase was one piece and the flywheels slid out of the cases from the right side by means of a bolt on trap door. It was a unit construction with a built in 5-speed transmission. It had a single downdraft carburettor with the air scoop at top of the gas tank. Nobody in sales liked the bike… The engine looked like a air compressor and the frame was a double loop design, similar to the latest Aermacchi Sprint, ugly. That engine never made it past 50 HP and the oil pump didn’t worked so it had to be feed intravenously. They had just finished a dyno run that day and the engine let go, the window was blown out and the pistons and rods were embedded in the walls… They did order 250 carburettors for it but the float-bowls were upside down and the lot had to be scraped. This was all I needed and now it was time to see my brother.

It was 01:00 in the morning when I got to Dick's house and informed him we had to talk about my next move. I showed him all the material and he was not surprised. He said he knew all that and argued against all of it over the last three years and he also told John Davidson ”I do not want to be invited to anymore engineering meetings because no one will listen to me”. He also told John “I'll just stay in my own Racing Dept. and do what I'm hired to do: win races”. Dick then said to me “why are you telling me all this at 1am in ____ _____ morning”. To which I replied “ Well, I want you to back me up because I'm calling a meeting today with John Davidson, QC, Engineering, Experiential, Service dept, production and you”. Dick went on “THE HELL YOU WILL, look, when I asked you up here it was to work for and be a rep for the factory, not to play God and stir up a mess”. I said “It is also my responsibility to protect my 120 dealers and if this crud keeps up there won't be anymore Harley-Davidsons so, are you in or out?”. Dick said “your own’s your own, so stay in your dept. and I'll stay in mine”...

The meeting was held the next day and I dropped my report on all who attended. Engineering wanted to know how I got my hand on there reports and other than that, John Davidson wanted a report from them on how they were going to correct each and every item…

The Firing

I was working with a dealer in Lincoln, Neb. when I got a call from the Service Manager to come back ASAP to Milwaukee and report to John Davidson. The story was that one of my dealers had it up to his neck with warranty work and he happened to have a stock broker, so he asked him who was the CEO and chairman of the board of this AMF which owned the controlling stock in Harley-Davidson…He was given the name of Rodney Gott. The dealer got in touch and told him of what was going on…that stirred up a hornets’ nest… I left my car at Lincoln H-D dealership and flew into Milwaukee where, at 9:00am, I walk into the offices: the secretaries are crying and there is not a peep out from anyone. I came up to John's office and his secretary says John O'Brien is waiting to see you. I think to myself “who the devil’s John O'Brien?”. I walk in and this guy about fifty shakes hands with me and informs me that William and John Davidson have been relieved of their position and I'm the new president of Harley-Davidson, I will report directly to the president of AMF, Mr. Rodney Gott.

About the time I think my composure is back under control and fall down in the chair across from his desk he DROPS MY ENGINEERING REPORT in front of me and says let’s talk about this. Talk about what? He turns on a tape recorder and says lets hear it all, I mean I want to know who, what and where on everything and don't leave anything out. After 3 hours, we walk out and join the dept. heads in the coffee lounge. My brother Dick is standing there as well and all of a sudden John O'Brien says “well now there are three O'Brien's here, so maybe we should call this the O'Brien’s factory”. Everyone looked around and John Davidson was standing right behind him and looked p...ed so he just said “hey it's a joke”.

By the end of 1972, the factory was dropping all the field service reps and I would have had to take a 25% cut salary to work in factory… To afford a house I would also have had to do what most dept heads had to do, that is take a second job, so it was good-bye H-D factory from me but not good-bye racing!!!