A Brief History of Indian Motorcycles

A Brief History of Indian Motocycles Will Boutelle, M.D. Springfield Museums May 8, 2008

References ! A Century of Indian. Youngblood, Ed (2001). ! Indian Motorcycle Photo History. Hatfield, Jerry (1993). ! Golden Age of the Fours. Hodgdon, Ted (1974). ! Classic Indian Motorcycle Carroll, John (no date) ! Hendersons, Those Elegant Machines. Schultz, Richard (1994).

Springfield, Massachusetts ! Manufacturing hub from mid- 19th century ! Large pool of skilled labor, plentiful power, and available capital ! At least three cars (Duryea, Knox and Rolls Royce), bicycles and motorcycles

1893 Duryea, Springfield Mass.

DURYEA 1893 - Brothers Charles & Frank built first car 1895 - Second car, won 1st auto race in USA (50 miles roundtrip Chicago-Evanston) 1896 - First production run (13 units) - First auto accident (NYC, Henry Wells hit bicyclist in his Duryea, went to jail overnight) Manufactured at least until 1913 in IL, NJ, and PA

Late-Model Duryea

Knox Automobile 1900-1914

KNOX AUTOMOBILE Built: ! Cars ! Trucks ! Tractors ! Fire engines quot; Using Knox engines, Springfield became first mechanized fire dept. in the United States

Springfield Rolls Royce

George Hendee, 1884

Oscar Hedstrom Pacer, 1899

INDIAN PRODUCTION FIGURES 1901 3 1902 143 1903 376 1904 ? 1905 1000+ 1908 3000+ 1910 6000+ 1913 32000+ 1914 25000 1915 21000

Indian #268 (early 1903). With engine and gas tank, its a bicycle!

From 1906 Indian catalogue, showing various products: Tandem, triplet, tri-car, tricycle and van

1907: First cataloged twin cylinder Indian. 42 degree angle between front and rear cylinder. All Indian twins through the end retained this angle

1909 Loop Frame - No longer a bicycle with a motor

Steering head of 1909 Indian single. Note U-joint controls for gas and spark.

Indian always concentrated on police business. Pictured below is a 1910 two-man patrol V-twin in Cincinnati. NYPD placed their first order in 1903.

Indian Factories

1911 Isle of Man TT Race (Britain) ! Indian came in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place

Board track racing Los Angeles 1912 1/3 mile tack, 90 mph

Eddie Hasha with big base 8-valve twin, Sept. 1912, on steeply banked board track. Photo taken just before an accident killed him, another racer and six spectators in Newark, NJ This was the only time that Motorcycle racing ever made the front page of the NY Times

1912 Indian with Colonial sidecar made of wicker

1914 Indian with Indian sidecar

1913 Indian twin with spring frame Major Innovation, but nobody else followed Note early buddy seat hanging off the back

Ford Model T: Hauled five people Kept you dry with top up Got cheaper to buy every year Killed market for motorcycle as cheap transportation

Oscar Hedstrom, Indians engineering father, retires at age 42 in 1913

Oscar Hedstrom, circa 1913

Hendee Special Electric Starting, but no generator

Pancho Villa Its hard to understand why he needed electric starting, with no place to charge his batteries for miles around. Two years later, he was being chased by General John J. Pershing

George Hendee Leaves Indian in 1915. Now both the founders are gone.

Gun Car, 1915 marketed to British army

1919 spring-frame military Indian. Note gas lamp and brass levers.

1917 Model O First Indian Attempt at a lightweight twin Cylinders opposed, front and aft Harley riders called it the Model Zero due to its low power

Erwin Cannonball Baker Not too bright, but he could stay awake for days May 1914: San Diego/New York 11 days, 12 hrs, 10 min August 1915: Canada/Mexico 3 days, 9 hrs, 15 min 1917: 24-hr. record:1534.25 miles All on Indians

Publicity photo of Baker on Indian

Great Motorcycles, bad business

Scout, 1921 Starting to look like modern motorcycle

Scout primary drive -- helical gears in oil bath. Led to the chant,You cant wear out an Indian Scout

1923 Chief First 74 cubic inch motor

1922 Chief with sidecar

Orie Steele Pre-eminent hill climber with trophies, on 1924 Scout

1925 Indian Prince 2nd attempt at lightweight motorcycle

1926 souped up overhead valve Prince (Still didnt sell)

Typical small-town Indian agency of 1920s Dealer and wife in front of showroom

Lineage of the future Indian Four Motocycle Will Henderson, designer of: Henderson, 1912-1917 Ace 1922-1926 Indian bought out Ace after bankruptcy

1912 Henderson First year of manufacturing First motorcycle to drive around the world (driven by C.S. Clancy)

Mr. & Mrs. Will Henderson on 1912 Henderson

1917 Henderson Company sold to Schwinn Dec, 1917 Will and Tom Henderson kept on as consultants, but Will soon left to start Ace Motorcycle Company

Ace Designed by W. Henderson Sept. 1922: Cannonball Baker rode Ace LA-NY (3332 miles) in 6 days, 22 hours and 52 minutes Worlds Fastest Motorcycle 129 mph solo, 106 mph with sidecar Will Henderson Killed Dec. 1922, while testing the new Ace on city streets

1927 Indian Ace

Indian Car

Silver Arrow Outboard Motor

Non-motorcycle products fail

1930-1939 Du Pont to the Rescue

Du Pont Letter, 1930

1930 Hillclimber

1932 Scout Pony

1936 Chief (restored 2005)

1936 Chief view from saddle

1938 Four Cylinder restored 1999

1938 Four Cylinder

1939 Traffic car

1941 Military Model 841

Sport Scout, 1941

1941 Chief

1941 Four Cylinder

1947 Chief and Sidecar ! Owned by Jim Seidell ! 3 miles from Chesterfield Center ! Jim owns several other Indians

1947 Chief and wife chief restored 1998 wife in original unrestored condition)

Indians Last Mistake

1949 Scout

1949 Scout engine Poorly engineered Poorly tested Bad electrics Not a V-twin Dealers cant sell them Dealers give up and turn to Harley

When engineering fails, turn to PR Erwin Cannonball Baker (who won his first race in 1909), pulled out of retirement to tout the vertical twin Indian. 1948 We dont know who the Motorcycle Queen was

When engineering fails, turn to PR (Part 2) ! Jane Russell presented with her own Indian Vertical Twin, 1948 ! No one knows whether she ever rode it

When engineering fails, turn to PR (Part 3) ! Vaughn Monroe (who actually rode motorcycles) brought in for photo on Indian ! Not recorded as to how many Indians he was given

1950 Chief Same stroke, but bored out to 80 cubic inches Plunger fork 1950-53 Except for fork, bored cylinder and minor engine & body changes, basically the same as 1948 Chief The dealers had all gone over to Harley

Indian Factory 1952-53 ! Assembling the last Indians ! Indian name about to be sold to distributors of English motorcycles ! Dealers not told of production termination

1947 and 1905 Indians Not the first and not the last, but quite a transition over 42 years

Last of the Breed ! Indian Factory 1953 ! Last non-police bikes built ! The very last of 1953 production went to the NYPD who had placed their first order for Indians in 1903

Indian Factory (1981) ! Indian long gone ! Crime-ridden neighborhood ! George Hendees office windows in large arch on corner

Interior of Indian Factory, 1981 Building is now used as an apartment building

Indian Factory, 1984 ! Large parts of the original factory were demolished ! What remains has been renovated for housing

Now What ???

European Indian Rally Scotland, 1994

Indian Racing Team Daytona Beach, Florida

Esta Manthos Collection of Antique Motorcycles given to Springfield Museums in June 2007

Last Indian Day July 2005 Esta Manthos presenting Oscar Hedstrom Best of Show trophy to Will Boutelle, MD for 1938 Indian Four Cylinder

Proposed Museum of Springfield History

Questions