Everything Old and Nostalgic

Timpanogos Harley-Davidson

Over the past year I’ve made a couple work trips to Orem, Utah (30 min South of Salt Lake City) and I’ve been watching a “new” Harley dealer come on line in the town of Lindon.  The dealership finally opened last Friday, July 25^th. 

It’s not your typical motorcycle dealership.  It’s a three-level building built completely of reclaimed materials from bridges to railroad ties to old pieces of Geneva Steel.  The steel trusses in the ceiling were made in 1903, and the wooden floorboards are weathered from decades of service as roofs of Geneva Steel brick buildings. Geneva Steel was a steel mill located in Vineyard, Utah, founded during World War II to enhance national steel output. It operated from December 1944 to November 2001.

So, Timpanogos Harley-Davidson just off the 1600 North exit on Interstate 15 at 935 N. 1200 West in Lindon is now open!

Dave Tuomisto

Dave Tuomisto is the owner of the $16 million green building/dealership and memorial to a company that created and propelled the Utah County economy. Dave’s grandfather worked at the Geneva Steel power plant, and his mother was a crane operator there for three years during World War II and why he wanted to do something to preserve the history. Dave is the founder of the Bajio Mexican restaurants, which also explains the dealership gourmet eatery called Marley’s. 

Customers can watch mechanics working on bikes through large windows, which are old train doors. The oldest pieces in the building are sets of trusses from the 1870s, brought in from an old train depot in Ogden. Other sets were salvaged from a Salt Lake City Coca-Cola factory from the early 1900s. The shop has a definite rustic feel.

So, if I get this correct you take a bunch of scrap iron, spend a lot of money and you get to build a really cool Harley dealership that people all over the Northwest are talking about!

The dealership is like a mini-museum and the bonus is doing some great rides on Highway 128, Colorado River Scenic Byway, Alpine Loop and Indian Canyon.

Photos courtesy of Deseret News.

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