Hot Bike Cover of the Day | Oct 83
Ah, 1983. My mullet was in full swing, my porn stache had sprouted, and my parents purchased this thing called “cable television.” What can I say? Alaska was a few years behind the Lower 48. While I was busy living the life of a teen in the 1980s, Harley’s execs had their hands full getting the US government to impose trade tariffs on Japanese bikes that year. This is also the year H-D launched the Harley Owner’s Group (HOG).
At the time of our October 83 issue, Hot Bike hadn’t cut the cord from its mama, Street Chopper, yet. Time reversed the roles of both magazines, with the child surpassing the parent for dominance over the years. October of 1983 had its share of reversals and notable events too. Like:
October 4 – British entrepreneur Richard Noble sets a new land speed record of 633.468 mph (1,019.468 km/h), driving Thrust2 at the Black Rock Desert, Nevada.
October 4 – The first Hooters opened in Clearwater, Florida.
October 9 – The Rangoon bombing kills South Korea’s Foreign Minister, Lee Bum Suk, and 21 others. The perpetrators are believed to be North Koreans.
October 12 – Japan’s former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka is found guilty of taking a $2 million bribe from Lockheed, and sentenced to 4 years in jail.
October 19 – Maurice Bishop, Prime Minister of Grenada, and 40 others are assassinated in a military coup.
October 23 – Beirut barracks bombing: Simultaneous suicide truck-bombings destroy both the French Army and United States Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, killing 241 U.S. servicemen, 58 French paratroopers and 6 Lebanese civilians.
October 25 – Invasion of Grenada by United States troops at the behest of Eugenia Charles of Dominica, a member of the Organization of American States.