A Sturgis with a story comes to live at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame
Museum
by Lance Oliver
Early this year, not long after the "Heroes of Harley-Davidson"
exhibit left the building, another Harley with a heroic story behind it
came to live permanently at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum.
Parked in the Founders Hall area of the Museum, the 1981 Sturgis is
worthy of attention even if you don't know the story behind it. The
knowlegeable will recognize it as the only stock Harley that ever had an
all-belt drivetrain, with a belt primary drive as well as final drive.
Then there's the legend about Willie G. Davidson designing the bike on a
napkin during a break on the way to Sturgis, South Dakota, for the rally
the bike was named for.
 Even
if you don't know that story, the bike's classic lines, and the styling
touches that separate it from many other Harleys, are enough to draw the
eye.
But really, that's just the prologue to this motorcycle's story. This
particular Sturgis, with its VIN ending in 000013, is a rolling monument
to a momentous time not just in Harley-Davidson's history, but in the
modern era of U.S. manufacturing.
1981 was the pivotal year in which a group of 13 executives bought
Harley-Davidson in a leveraged buyout from corporate parent AMF
Incorporated. All of those 13 investors were Harley employees at the
time, except for one.
Tim Hoelter had spent the last eight years with a Milwaukee law firm
assigned to the Harley-Davidson account. When he learned about the
leveraged buyout, Hoelter offered to quit his firm and join the team as
the company’s first in-house lawyer. A deal was eventually struck and
Hoelter became the only outsider among the 13 members of the leveraged
buyout team.
As plans for the buyout progressed, each of the investors was allowed
to pick out one model of motorcycle that would be owned by the Company
but would be customized and set aside for his use, to commemorate the
buyout.
This Sturgis was one of those bikes. But Hoelter didn't choose it. In
fact, it had already been painted with another executive’s initials. But
when that other Harley executive withdrew from the leveraged buyout at
the last minute, the Sturgis was assigned for Hoelter’s use.
 "They
simply took that same bike and painted new initials on the rear fender,
T.K.H., and added an engraved timer cover with my name and that was just
fine with me," said Hoelter, who admired the looks of the Sturgis
anyway.
Hoelter, who was riding a former police-issue three-wheeled
Harley-Davidson Servi-Car when he joined the buyout team, even put a
sidecar on the Sturgis for a while. But eventually he returned it to
stock configuration. Years later, the company decided to do something
with the special-issue bikes it owned, so it gave the original investors
the chance to buy the 13 original commemorative machines. Hoelter
naturally jumped at the chance to own the Sturgis outright.
Meanwhile, Hoelter also played a role in an important moment in
recent AMA history. He was a member of the AMA Board of Directors that
created the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum.
So this year, Hoelter acted on a thought that had been in the back of
his mind for a long time. He donated the Sturgis to the Museum's
permanent collection.
"It was not easy to give it up," he admitted. "It's a special,
special vehicle. But the AMA has always been special to me, too.
"I felt that rather than have it sit in my garage and be ridden now
and then, it would be better for it to be where people can enjoy it, in
the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum."
 With
9,881 miles on the odometer, and just a few tiny chips on the finish,
it's clear that the 1981 Sturgis has been used for its intended purpose,
but has also been well cared for. It's a museum piece that has known the
open road.
As both an important model for Harley-Davidson, and a rare machine
with a unique story behind it, the Sturgis also makes a valuable
addition to the Museum's permanent collection, said Museum Executive
Director Mark Mederski. It allows the public to see another authentic
piece of motorcycling's heritage. And given Harley-Davidson's dramatic
rise in the years since the 1981 buyout, it's also an artifact of one of
the most compelling success stories in U.S. business in recent years.
"Some motorcycles are just motorcycles, and others have important
stories to tell," said Mederski. "With Tim's donation of this very early
first series Sturgis, we have a significant bike for our permanent
collection and a unique story paired with it.
"Our thanks to Tim Hoelter for keeping the bike in excellent
condition and ultimately sharing an important piece of history."
© 2005, Motorcycle Hall of Fame
Museum | 
Sign up for
