| HISTORY OF HARLEY-DAVIDSON IN THE CENTRAL VALLEY
| | It all started back in the early 1930’s with a man named Soapy Sudmyer. Soapy opened Stockton’s first Harley-Davidson Dealership on Main St. in downtown Stockton and named it Soapy Sudmyer Harley-Davidson. He did well for about ten years and then sold the dealership to Leonard Andres who also owned the San Diego Harley-Davidson dealership. You might have heard of Leonard and his son Brad. They were both very famous hill climb and dirt track racers. Leonard moved the dealership to the Wilson Way location and changed the name to Andres Harley-Davidson in the mid 1940’s.
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| In the mid 1950’s the dealership was again sold and the Davis Bros. were the proud owners of Davis Bros. Harley-Davidson. They held on to it until 1967 when Dan Jenkins acquired the dealership and changed the name to Dan’s Harley-Davidson.
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| In 1976 Chris Ranuio purchased the dealership and changed the name to Ranuio’s Stockton Harley-Davidson. Chris also moved to a new location on the corner of West Lane and Alpine. In 1982 Chris sold the dealership to an individual who went out of business before the year was up.
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| Jerry Benson owned Hayward Harley-Davidson over in Alameda County during this same time frame. Jerry was looking to get out of the Bay Area and when the dealership closed it’s doors in Stockton, Jerry decided to move. In 1983 Jerry moved his dealership from Hayward to Stockton and opened the new Valley Harley-Davidson on Fremont St., right under the I-5 Freeway. It was June 1996 when they moved to 711 E. Miner Ave., the site of the old Ford Dealership until they moved to the new Stockton Auto Mall.
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| In 2002 Jerry started to look into selling the dealership and that’s when Terry Davis and family enter the picture.
The Davis Family has been in the recreational vehicle business for some 37 years here in the San Joaquin Valley. So taking on a Harley-Davidson Dealership, which was something the entire family was very passionate about, was a natural.
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| It all started when Terry took a Harley® bike in on trade for a motor home. Terry decided to keep the bike to ride. The rest of the family got interested in riding and they all got hooked. That’s when the idea of owning a Harley-Davidson dealership started to surface. They heard that Jerry and Bonnie Bensen, owners of the Stockton Dealership, wanted to sell and well, you know the rest of the story.
In March of 2003, Terry Davis took control of Valley Harley-Davidson. Changes were made immediately, more bikes were put on the showroom floor, he hired more help behind the parts counter, more techs to work in the shop for a faster turn-around in the service dept., more sales people and a lot more training for everyone. They spent over $400,000.00 in improvements just to get things kick-started. This was the single most important improvement ever for Harley owners here in the valley.
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| Then in 2006, the Davis family embarked on another exciting chapter in Valley motorcycle history. Terry wanted to move the dealership to a much better location, right off Interstate 5. The new dealership would be the only Harley-Davidson dealership on I-5 from the Mexican border all the way up to Redding. He wanted a brand new 46,000 sq. ft. facility to house the new Eagle’s Nest Harley-Davidson. It would be a two story, winery themed complex that would showcase over 200 motorcycles, the largest MotorClothes® merchandise department ever, a state of the art service department with 14 service bays each with two lifts, room for an additional 5 bays with 10 more lifts, and a parts department second to none. Be sure and check out the bold and majestic wooden eagle’s hovering above the showroom and also in the service area. If you happen to see Jodi Davis, be sure and let her know how much you like the eagles and the family pictures adorning the walls of the dealership.
The Davis family and the entire staff at the all new Eagle’s Nest Harley-Davidson is all about quality and service at a fair price. That’s why the entire dealership is open 7 days week. That’s right, the entire showroom, parts and accessories, MotorClothes® merchandise and the service department is open 7 days a week! Now that’s some service!
If you like what we have done so far, take a deep breath, because there is more to come in the near future. Be sure and visit us often to find out what else is new at Eagle’s Nest Harley-Davidson!
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Eagle's Nest Harley-Davidson
13900 Harlan Road Lathrop CA 95330
Phone: 209-941-0420
Fax: 209-463-2100
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