The Secret V-4 Powered Bike That Almost Was

Harley-Davidson has grown from a two-person operation in a backyard shed to become one of the world’s largest and best-known motorcycle manufacturers. Harley’s engine offerings have mostly been of the one- and two-cylinder variety, but the company’s top brass and engineers were prompted to move from their V-twin wheelhouse after Honda released the four-cylinder CB750 and CN750 in 1969 and Kawasaki responded with its own superbike, the Z1, a few years later.
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Harley’s answer was the Nova, a prototype that was originally planned for a 1981 release with a four-cylinder engine. More than a dozen were built and other versions were planned to follow, but Harley-Davidson was in a period of ownership and management transition. In the waning weeks of 1968, Harley-Davidson’s owners agreed to a purchase offer from American Machine and Foundry, or AMF. That company was best known for making recreational sports gear like bowling balls and tennis rackets, but held on to Harley-Davidson for a dozen years.
The AMF years are regarded as a low point for Harley-Davidson, but in the late ’70s, Vice President Jeffrey Bleustein held a meeting where the company’s execs and technicians first discussed the Evolution engine, which would make its first appearance in 1984. Another topic on the agenda was the development of a high-performance, water-cooled engine that became the Nova Project. Engineering lead Mike Hillman arranged a partnership with Porsche, and the Nova team of 30 was split between Milwaukee and Germany.
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