Best Unusual Things Made By Companies From Another Industry?

I'm surprised Panasonic hasn't been mentioned yet. They make everything from batteries to computers, robots, home appliances and their unspectacular but reliable audio line, Technics. 
I don't much believe in brand loyalty but if I'm looking for something and there's a Panasonic product available, it generally goes to the top of the list. 
 

My Dad worked for Goodyear and they used to make this. The SubRoc nuclear anti submarine weapon. Plus the occasional tire  

John Welsh said:

In reply to wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) :

Bridgestone did bicycles.  Sold for years in Japan but only briefly, like mid 80's to mid 90's in the US.  They were pretty cutting edge and well repsected in the US for that period.  They were early into the game of MTB.   This is a picture of my own 1993 Bridgestone MB-4 

Ironically, they did not make the tires for their US bikes.  

Bridgestone bikes have a cult following, specifically the XOs.  There was something in their geometry that was fairly unique, I think a narrow pedal width ("Q factor").

Also IIRC, a cottage industry popped up around steel frames that used the Bridgestone geometry.  Like, give us thousands of dollars and wait a year or so for your handbuilt steel frame cult following.

Rivendell Bicycles

In reply to ShawnG :

I see what you did there. 

wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) said:

Also, I love all things Yamaha. I had a bass I loved, a motorcycle, too. They developed the 4AGE head (2ZZGE, too, if I'm not mistaken).

Yessir.  Also the 3S-GE and 3S-GTE and 1JZ and this funny little thing:

DrMikeCSI said:

My Dad worked for Goodyear and they used to make this. The SubRoc nuclear anti submarine weapon. Plus the occasional tire  

And airplanes, when the need arose:

General Electric has their hands in everything from light bulbs to jet engines.  Eaton does everything from electrical distribution gear to superchargers to transmissions and axles for heavy trucks.

AMF was definitely America's Yamaha equivalent in the mid-20th century. 

Bowling equipment? Check.

Harley Davidson's? You bet.

Boats?  You want a small single seat Sunfish sailboat or a Hatteras yacht?

ICBM missile silos? How many you need?

The number of ventures they got in and out of is staggering.  And they're most well known for their bowling equipment.  

How about a furniture manufacturer?

One of Ikea's top sellers is it's organic Salmon, not furniture.

John Welsh said:

In reply to wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) :

Bridgestone did bicycles.  Sold for years in Japan but only briefly, like mid 80's to mid 90's in the US.  They were pretty cutting edge and well repsected in the US for that period.  They were early into the game of MTB.   This is a picture of my own 1993 Bridgestone MB-4 

Ironically, they did not make the tires for their US bikes.  

Firestone also made bicycles.  My first bike was a Firestone like this one.

It originally came with solid tires.  When I eventually wore through them to the hollow inside I replaced them with BMX style tires, removed the chain guard and switched to BMX style bars and seat.  I rode that bike an trails all over the place until I graduated to a motorcycle.

Puddy46 said:

AMF was definitely America's Yamaha equivalent in the mid-20th century. 

Bowling equipment? Check.

Harley Davidson's? You bet.

 

Boats?  You want a small single seat Sunfish sailboat or a Hatteras yacht?

ICBM missile silos? How many you need?

The number of ventures they got in and out of is staggering.  And they're most well known for their bowling equipment.  

Interesting.  I never knew they made bowling equipment.  I think of them as primarily a lawn and garden equipment manufacturer.  They made just about every Sears, Montgomery Wards and entry level Cub Cadet tractor for years.

GIRTHQUAKE said:

How about a furniture manufacturer?

One of Ikea's top sellers is it's organic Salmon, not furniture.

This is good stuff. This thread is teching me all the things I didn't know I didn't know!

To add to the Yamaha thing...

Stanley makes a ton of stuff.

If you own crappy hand tools, a decent air nailer or walk through a door that opens automatically, it's probably Stanley.

In reply to Puddy46 :

AMF has the distinction of making the worst Harley Davidsons ever. 

Their garbage quality control made 1970s GM products look good by comparison and nearly put the company out of business.

AMF was said to mean Adios Mother F....

Ducati used to make a ton of consumer goods.

Radios, electric shavers, outboard motors.

Now it's just motorcycles. 

Oddly enough, apparently Triumph motorcycles and Triumph cars have nothing to do with each other.

ShawnG said:

In reply to Puddy46 :

AMF has the distinction of making the worst Harley Davidsons ever. 

Their garbage quality control made 1970s GM products look good by comparison and nearly put the company out of business.

AMF was said to mean Adios Mother F....

AMF gets a bad rap but if it wasn't for AMF Harley Davidson wouldn't exist today except as history or a legacy fraud company like Polaris-Indian. 

My folks had one of these Daewoo tv/vcr combos back in the 90s. It worked fine but the speakers were such a joke and I hated them so much that it made their departure from the US auto market make absolute sense. 
 

And funny, I only know AMF from their bowling *lanes* not from their equipment. 
 

Oh oops! I almost forgot Bose and their proactive suspension

CNET video

And I do believe I saw an article recently about a Motorola electric C4 Corvette

In reply to P3PPY :

Daewoo still sells cars in the US.  It's an interesting read.... after some shady business dealings, the "Daewoo" company was dissolved and reorganized, the automaker part was renamed GM Korea and later just Chevrolet (or Holden for more southerly exports).

If you have a GM made in Korea, be it an Encore or a Spark or whathaveyou... it's a Daewoo. 

I meant to mention Daewoo before. They used to have a commercial on Canadian TV listing all the things they do. It's a lot. And they're still in the US market, you just know the cars by a different name

Edit: Pete beat me to it while I was typing. Also responsible for the the design and some of the manufacture of the Sonic, and the design of the two latest 1.4 engines

AMF opens up companies that have been broken up. Bombardier Ski Doo, Sea Doo, Rotax engines, CanAm machines that's all in one company and aerospace Challenger and LearJet. 

cabbagecop said:

ShawnG said:

In reply to Puddy46 :

AMF has the distinction of making the worst Harley Davidsons ever. 

Their garbage quality control made 1970s GM products look good by comparison and nearly put the company out of business.

AMF was said to mean Adios Mother F....

AMF gets a bad rap but if it wasn't for AMF Harley Davidson wouldn't exist today except as history or a legacy fraud company like Polaris-Indian. 

 

 

AMF also meant you could buy an official Harley Davidson Snowmobile and six-wheel crawler thing.

In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :

Don't forget the Harley Davidson golf carts. 

AMF also meant you could buy an official Harley Davidson Snowmobile and six-wheel crawler thing.

Everybody made a snowmobile in the 70's like everybody made a mini bike in the 60's

My buddy loves his liquifire 

The staff at HD bought the company after AMF had run it into the ground.

That's what saved them and kept them building 40 year old motorcycles.

I own a couple Moto Guzzis, I'm very familiar with motorcycle companies with terrible management. Lol