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Famous
Harley Girls
Famous Harley Girls
Although predominantly a man’s toy,
several famous Harley girls have
left their mark on Harley Davidson’s
history. For the most part, however,
women haven’t shown a whole lot of
interest in riding Harleys, and
they’ve been slow to join up with
the Harley revolution, preferring
for the most part, to remain on the
back of the bike. Although their
ranks are growing (10% of new Harley
sales were to women) and more
female-oriented riding clubs are
forming and gaining members, the
manufacturers of the Harley Davidson
motorcycle haven’t yet added the
color pink to its production line!
So here’s the low-down on the famous
Harley girls.
Vivian Bale was the first of the
famous Harley girls. Back in 1929,
she rode her 45 Twin D Harley almost
5,000 miles, stopping to meet with
dealers of her favorite motorcycle
along her journey. After that
legendary trip, she spent many more
years riding and performing
motorcycle stunts at various racing
events in Florida.
Brigitte Bardot, a movie icon during
the 1950’s and
internationally-renowned pinup
beauty, changed courses and began
dabbling in music during the 1960’s.
She was such a fan of Harleys that
in 1967 she debuted the
appropriately named song, Harley
Davidson which quickly became a hit
single. It was, of course, dedicated
to her favorite motorcycle. It’s
hard to say what was more popular,
that song or the photograph of her
dressed in hot pants and an unzipped
leather jacket seductively
straddling a Harley.
Elizabeth Taylor rode a Purple
Passion which was given to her as a
gift from her friend Malcolm Forbes,
another Harley Davidson enthusiast.
It’s been said that he gave her a
purple motorcycle to match the
unique purple color of her eyes.
Another of the famous Harley girls
didn’t earn her notoriety because of
anything spectacular that she did on
or with a motorcycle. Jean Davidson
was famous mostly because she was a
part of the Davidson family, the
Davidson of the Harley-Davidson
union. Jean was the granddaughter of
one of the founders of this
motorcycle empire, and Harley
Davidson motorcycles were central to
her life.
More recently, Sarah Ferguson, the
Duchess of York, twice visited the
headquarters of Harley Davidson
while on a business trip to
Wisconsin. While there, she
reportedly shopped for Harley
apparel (although reports don’t
indicate whether she actually bought
any merchandise) and admired the
newest 2005 models.
It’s likely that more not-so-famous
Harley girls exist than famous ones.
They’re the gorgeous girls pictured
time and again seductively perched
atop those breathtakingly beautiful,
ultra-shiny chrome Harley Davidson
motorcycles. If you’ve done any
researching of Harley Davidson
products at all, especially photos
or other types of images, you’ve
likely seen these women and know
what I’m talking about. They’re the
women that the marketers relied on
to help sell their brand of
motorcycle. Today, these Harley
girls with their bodacious bodies
and their bright smiles help sell
all sorts of Harley Davidson gear,
not just the motorcycles, and
they’re pretty good at what they do!
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