Harley-Davidson's Nova Project: All About 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.

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.

In an effort to keep the project from curious journalists, Harley also established a secret testing facility in Talladega, Alabama and limited the hiring of outsiders. "We had to keep the numbers down due to the project's secrecy," Hillman recalled, "but not much information escaped." The Nova program was supposed to include 400 and 500 cubic centimeter V-twins, V-4s with exactly twice the displacement of those two engines, and 1,200 and 1,500 cubic centimeter V6 engines. 

Willie Davidson, who was then leading the design team, wanted to keep the look of the new bikes streamlined, which resulted in some creative component placement. The radiator and fuel tank were mounted under the seat, while the standard fuel tank location was used for an airbox and fan to cool the engine.

The combined American and German Nova team produced over a dozen prototypes, all with the 800 cubic centimeter V4. Hillman explained Harley's thinking in an interview with Hagerty. "At the time, we thought Harley needed a new range, to complement rather than to replace the V-twins," he said. "The Japanese manufacturers were swamping the market with different products, and we wanted something to compete."

The testing team found that the Nova was able to top 120 miles per hour and handled well, and all looked good for a 1981 release. But that year, AMF sold Harley back to a group of executives that included William G. Davidson, a descendant of company founder Arthur Davidson. With that transition came a need to cut expenditures, so one of the two big programs had to go.  Harley's incoming management team chose the Evolution V-twin project over the Nova, but the Nova program was kept alive for at least another year. 

Hillman and Harley-Davidson President Vaughn Beals even sought funding from outside the company, but Hillman explained how the clock ran out on the Nova. "In fact, we found a place to build it, in Italy," he recounted. "But strategically it didn't make sense. Then bike sales fell towards the late '80s. By then it was less competitive anyway." 

Harley-Davidson has thrived since the mid-'80s, partially on the strength of the Evolution engine and its successor, the Revolution. Without the Nova program that accompanied the Evolution, the Harley story may have taken a much different road.