Rejected golf cart engine leads to Harley-davidson Evo

º On a mission to sell an unorthodox 150cc two-stroke industrial engine in America, ex-norton engineer John Favill thought Harley-davidson might want it for golf carts it built as a side-line. He was wrong, but the half-hour pitch granted by H-D executive Jeff Bluestein became a long chat about motorcycle engineering and a job offer. Favill joined H-D as Chief Engineer, Powertrains in 1979 and stayed until retirement in 1992. He was key to development of the 1984 1340cc all-alloy Evolution engine. Firmly in the Harley V-twin tradition but much modernised internally, it pulled the company back from the edge of oblivion.