Chapter 4: Harleys, Choppers, Full Dressers, and Stolen Wheels Summary and Analysis

As a kid, Sonny didn't like cops but he always admired their motorcycles. Motorcycles became the rage in California after World War II. It was a cheap way to get around and it was just dangerous enough to be exciting. Sonny bought his first motor scooter, a Cushman, when he was thirteen. He worked odd jobs and saved enough money to buy his first motorcycle when he was eighteen and fresh out of the Army. It was a 1936 Harley. With gas at nineteen cents a gallon, it was a cheap way to ride around Oakland.

Harley's share of the market is about half with the other half going to Japanese makes. The Harleys were so much in demand that Sonny suspected that the company held up production...