Harley-Davidson, Inc., H-D, or Harley, is an American motorcycle manufacturer founded in 1903 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Along with Indian it was one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression. The company has survived numerous ownership arrangements, subsidiary arrangements, periods of poor economic health and product quality, and intense global competition to become one of the world's largest motorcycle manufacturers and an iconic brand widely known for its loyal following. There are owner clubs and events worldwide, as well as a company-sponsored, brand-focused museum.
Lotus Cars Limited is a British automotive company headquartered in Norfolk, England. It manufactures sports cars and racing cars noted for their light weight and fine handling characteristics.
Lotus Elan is the name of two separate ranges of automobiles produced by Lotus Cars. The first series of cars was produced between 1962 and 1975 as a rear-wheel drive vehicle. The second series was produced between 1989 and 1995 as a front-wheel drive vehicle.
In automotive design, a RMR or Rear Mid-engine, Rear-wheel-drive layout is one in which the rear wheels are driven by an engine placed just in front of them, behind the passenger compartment. In contrast to the rear-engined RR layout, the center of mass of the engine is in front of the rear axle. This layout is typically chosen for its low moment of inertia and relatively favorable weight distribution. The layout has a tendency toward being heavier in the rear than the front, which allows for best balance to be achieved under braking. However, since there is little weight over the front wheels, under acceleration, the front of the car is prone to lift and cause understeer. Most rear-engine layouts have historically been used in smaller vehicles, because the weight of the engine at the rear has an adverse effect on a larger car's handling, making it 'tail-heavy'. It is felt that the low polar inertia is crucial in selection of this layout. The mid-engined layout also uses up central space, making it impractical for any but two-seater sports cars. However, some microvans use this layout, with a small, low engine beneath the loading area. This makes it possible to move the driver right to the front of the vehicle, thus increasing the loading area at the expense of slightly reduced load depth.
De Tomaso Automobili is an Italian car-manufacturing company. It was founded by the Argentine-born Alejandro de Tomaso (1928–2003) in Modena in 1959. It originally produced various prototypes and racing cars, including a Formula One car for Frank Williams's team in 1970. Most of the funding for the automaker came from de Tomaso's brother-in-law, Amory Haskell Jr, Rowan Industries. In 1971, Ford acquired an 84% stake in De Tomaso from Rowan with Alejandro de Tomaso himself holding the balance. Ford would sell back their stake in the automaker in 1974 to Alejandro. The De Tomaso brand was acquired in 2014 by Hong-Kong based Ideal Team Ventures and in 2019, the newly formed company presented their first product, a retro-styled sports car called the P72.
In a motor vehicle, the powertrain comprises the main components that generate power and deliver that power to the road surface, water, or air. This includes the engine, transmission, drive shafts, differentials, and the final drive. Hybrid powertrains also include one or more electric traction motors that operate to drive the vehicle wheels. All-electric vehicles eliminate the engine altogether, relying solely on electric motors for propulsion. Occasionally the term powerplant is casually used to refer to the engine or, less often, the entire powertrain.
Fordson was a brand name of tractors and trucks. It was used on a range of mass-produced general-purpose tractors manufactured by Henry Ford & Son Inc from 1917 to 1920, by Ford Motor Company (U.S.) and Ford Motor Company Ltd (U.K.) from 1920 to 1928, and by Ford Motor Company Ltd (U.K.) from 1929 to 1964. The latter also later built trucks and vans under the Fordson brand.
A softail is a motorcycle with its rear suspension springs or shock absorbers located out of direct view, so as to look like a hard-tail motorcycle.
Erik F. Buell is the founder, former Chairman and Chief Technical Officer of the Buell Motorcycle Company, which eventually merged with Harley-Davidson Corp. Buell is a pioneer of modern race motorcycle technology. Buell is also the founder of Erik Buell Racing.
The De Tomaso Vallelunga is a mid-engine sports car produced by De Tomaso from 1964 until 1968. It was the first road going automobile manufactured by the company.
Farmall was a model name and later a brand name for tractors manufactured by the American company International Harvester (IH). The Farmall name was usually presented as McCormick-Deering Farmall and later McCormick Farmall in the evolving brand architecture of IH.
The Tesla Roadster is a battery electric vehicle (BEV) sports car, based on the Lotus Elise chassis, that was produced by the electric car firm Tesla Motors in California from 2008 to 2012. The Roadster was the first highway legal serial production all-electric car to use lithium-ion battery cells and the first production all-electric car to travel more than 320 kilometres (200 mi) per charge. It is also the first production car to be launched into orbit, carried by a Falcon Heavy rocket in a test flight on February 6, 2018.
Unit construction is the design of larger motorcycles where the engine and gearbox components share a single casing. This sometimes includes the design of automobile engines and was often loosely applied to motorcycles with rather different internal layouts such as the flat twin BMW models.
Backbone tube chassis is a type of automobile construction chassis that is similar to the body-on-frame design. Instead of a two-dimensional ladder-type structure, it consists of a strong tubular backbone that connects the front and rear suspension attachment areas. A body is then placed on this structure. It was first used in the English Rover 8hp of 1904 and then the French Simplicia automobile in 1909.
The Harley-Davidson FL is a model designation used on Harley-Davidson motorcycles since 1941. The FL prefix is mostly applied to Harley-Davidson's large-framed bikes, including the current Touring series, and also the Softail series, especially those with traditional styling, 16-inch front wheels, and either Springer forks or large-diameter telescopic front forks.
The Harley-Davidson Servi-Car was a three-wheeled utility motorcycle manufactured by Harley-Davidson from 1932 to 1973.
A motorcycle frame is a motorcycle's core structure. It supports the engine, provides a location for the steering and rear suspension, and supports the rider and any passenger or luggage. Also attached to the frame are the fuel tank and battery. At the front of the frame is found the steering head tube that holds the pivoting front fork, while at the rear there is a pivot point for the swingarm suspension motion. Some motorcycles include the engine as a load-bearing stressed member; while some other bikes do not use a single frame, but instead have a front and a rear subframe attached to the engine.
Samson Tractor was an American brand of tractors 1900 to 1923, of trucks from 1920 to 1923, and a General Motors brand from 1917 to 1923.
The Harley-Davidson Model W, also known as the Sport Twin, is a motorcycle made by Harley-Davidson from 1919 to 1923. Unusually for a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, the Model W had a flat-twin engine and a trailing link fork. The Model W set speed records on runs from New York City to Chicago and from the Canada–United States border to the Mexico–United States border. Slow home market sales led to the end of production after four years.
The Indian Model O was a lightweight motorcycle made by the Hendee Manufacturing Company from 1917 to 1919. Indian expected to sell the Model O to young or thrifty riders. The United States' entry into World War I caused Indian to shift manufacture to military motorcycles, and the low cost of the Ford Model T caused the market for lightweight motorcycles to collapse.
