CEAC-2020-11-November

Andy and Ginger Segar cruise down Michigan Avenue in their Pulse autocycle on Friday, Aug. 28, 2020, in Battle Creek, Mich. Andy purchased the Owosso
Pulse, made by the Owosso Motor Company, from his friend’s father, a childhood dream come true. (Alyssa Keown/Battle Creek Enquirer via AP)
As for why he has invested so much into the 35-year-old vehicle,
Andy explained, “I like the Pulse. I like what it stands for.
I like that it was made in Michigan.”
Made in Owosso
The Pulse is the brainchild of the late aeronautical engineer
Jim Bede, who designed the prototype that would eventually
become known interchangeably as the Autocycle or BD-200,
and later as the LiteStar and Pulse.
The first 15 LiteStar models were built in Scranton, Iowa.
They were powered by Honda or Yamaha motorcycle engines.
Eventually, the Owosso-built autocyles would operate
under the name Pulse and offer Goldwing-powered versions,
five-speed transmission and a reverse gear.
David Vaughn founded the Owosso Motor Car Co. in 1984,
also serving as company chairman. He was a key member of
an early group of investors brought together by the company
president Ed Butcher to build the Pulse in Owosso. At its
height, the company had 42 employees that turned over 12
Pulses a week in a 66,000-square-foot-factory at 501 South
Chestnut St.
“We pulled together a crew and built the vehicle actually
from almost scratch in Owosso,” Vaughn recalled. “It was a
lot of fun. It was a lot of effort and we achieved a good vehicle,
but not enough to go on forever.”
In 1986, production moved to a pole barn at Butcher’s 160-
acre farm in Owosso after the company filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy.
“We worked our butts off trying to make it happen the way
it should as far as vehicles are concerned,” Vaughn said. “It
was a success to a degree. But we didn’t have enough money
to make a real impact on our country.”
Butcher, who died in 2008, was perhaps the most ardent
believer in the vehicle. Which also made him “the most
bullheaded man in Shiawassee County,” according to a 1989
Detroit Free Press article.
“People don’t opt for a Pulse instead of an Oldsmobile,”
Butcher was quoted. “The chief competition for the car
comes from fur coats, diamond brooches and cigarette
boats.”
The $80 million in annual sales Butcher predicted never
materialized, although the vehicle did receive a healthy dose
of publicity, as it was used in marketing for Coors, Budweiser,
a Florida surf shop and a Michigan McDonald’s restaurant,
among others.
After the Pulse appeared on a 1988 Fox television show, Universal
Studios reached out to the Owosso Motor Co. about
using two of its autocycles in Back to the Future Part II.
Owasso native, author and local historian Shaffer Fox recalled
his hometown being excited about the attention given to the
Pulse, but added, “It was just another cool thing that came
out of Owosso.”
“Big things normally aren’t permanent anyway. This was a
cool, big thing,” Fox said. “It was a unique vehicle, it was cool
enough to be in the movie, it was another cool thing that
came out of Owosso, of the many.”
Volume 85 · Number 11 | 67