bad news methinks....

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/03/16/4343732/harley-davidson-styling-chief.html

 

His skull themes were one of his many valuable contributions. Good luck in his retirement..

 The man had vision thats fer sure, enuff to see the  MoCo through the hard years and give it innovation ta boot. Only hope the years ahead will have somebody at the helm with his nous

He's bailing out before water cooling is standard

You cant knock him at that age, and all the changes in design, economy and lifestyles over the years.....would love to sit in a saloon with him for several hours and just listen to his stories...priceless...

I heared

"if Sonny rides a Victory, I can ride one"

Lots of stuff made on Harley's is made in asia and has been that way for sometime now.

So much for all the people who dislike asian and Japanese motorcyles, looked at the lower fork legs on my Fatboy Lo they are made by Showa its stamped on the inside of the lower leg behind the front guard mounting bracket and Showa is Japanese.

 

I had no idea Willie G is 78?!! Lookin' at him I'da guessed late 50's or mid 60's tops. Anyways, good luck to him. I reckon he'll continue to turn up at the Rallies and be feted as a legend - a bit like Peter Fonda of 'Easy Riders' fame. He'll never hafta buy another beer, that's for sure.

 

no doubt Willie G brought the company through to what it is now, he was also a big player in the rebirth from AMF, along with Vaughn Beales. he restyled the bikes into something people wanted,made them sellable and turned HD around. good on him,howmany here would still wanta be working at 78? i may be wrong but i always though Kenny Boyce wasthe original man behind the rubber mounted Harley engined bikes,pre FXR, he was also the original designer of the softy i think. Arlen Ness built a rubber mounted, iron head sporty enginedbike inthe late sixties, as did John Reed[uncle Bunt}. there was some disagreement as to who was first, Ness claimed it for the Yanks but Reed still claims he was a year earlier in England.Willie G often followedthe custom bike designers, watched closely what style was popular and then put a factory spin on it. he was pretty good at it too. most of the best selling HDs are products of his efforts. hope he has a well deserved retirement.