"They could have tried to compete, there were clear capabilities to change - but took the bad-mouthing "jap junk" approach. Letting the market decide is even more American than the flag."
Pretty much Harley Davidson MC's attitude back in the early 80's As a response to the appearance of the Kawasaki Z1 and Honda CB750, they hit American shores far cheaper, more reliable and higher performing than the biggest and baddest model Harley had.
Yes, exactly.
I found it a minor tragedy that Fox took their tack, because I think there is no reason at all that they couldn't have successfully competed - they just had to try. I don't know what they did in other areas, but they went around demonstrating engines and asking for input - and then ignored it or argued with people. This was long after Duke was gone, and I doubt that Duke's "legal issues" had any real bearing on the success.
A lot of the Fox engines would have been fine for RC sport fliers with very minor improvements, but the "curb appeal" compared to OS, ST, etc, was terrible, and the other manufacturers kept improving. Take even a lowly 46LA, the cheapest of the cheap sport engines, back to 1975, and it would be like an alien artifact. Take a Fox Eagle 60 CL back to 1975, and it would even draw notice.
Brett