Bill was born in 1938 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He majored in higher maths while attending college and in the 1960s began working for various U.S. Government contractors, including Hughes and McDonnel Douglas. While at McDonnel Douglas, William was involved in the development of the guidance systems for their surface-to-air missiles. According to reports, disgruntled that he was denied access to the complete guided missile plans, William moved to Chicago and opened/ran several motorcycle shops.
As Bill was dissatisfied with the unreliability of Harley Davidson’s engines, he began designing and building a series of motorcyclesand was told that they needed to see the motorcycle to assess it for potential production. The dealer was somewhat taken aback when they were advised that Bill was in their parking lot not long after he’d spoken with them as Bill had ridden a distance of 2,139 miles (3,442 km, in 32 hours on modern roads) to show them the Autofour.
