| Indian Motorcycle Company
Indian was America's oldest motorcycle brand and was once the largest manufacturer of motorcycles in the world. The Indian Motorcycle Manufacturing Company was founded as the Hendee Manufacturing Company by George M. Hendee and Carl Oscar Hedström in 1901. Both Hendee and Hedström were former bicycle racers who teamed up to produce a motorcycle with a 1.75 bhp, single cylinder engine in Hendee's home town of Springfield. The bike was successful and sales increased dramatically during the next decade. Indian introduced its first v-twin in 1907. Oscar Hedstrom left Indian in 1913 after disagreements with the Board of Directors regarding dubious practices to inflate the company's stock values. George Hendee resigned in 1916. The Powerplus, a side-valve 42 degree V-Twin, was introduced in 1916 in a 61ci (1000 cc) displacement. V-twin engine was more powerful and quieter than previous designs, giving a top speed of 60 mph (96 km/h). The Powerplus was highly successful, both as a roadster and as the basis for racing bikes. It remained in production with few changes until 1924 and was the basis for future Indian V-Twin designs. The middleweight Scout and larger Chief V-twin models, designed by Charles B. Franklin and introduced in the early 1920s, became the Springfield firm's most successful models, each sharing that 42 degree V twin engine layout. Both models gained a reputation for strength and reliability, prompting the Indian saying: "You can't wear out an Indian Scout, or its brother the Indian Chief. They are built like rocks to take hard knocks; it's the Harleys that cause grief." Indian purchased the ownership of the name, rights, and production facilities of the Ace Motor Corporation in 1927, which was William Henderson's new company started in 1919 after a falling out with Schwinn. Henderson was killed test riding a new bike near his Philadelphia plant on 11 December, 1922. Henderson had been careful so that his longitudinal four cylinder motorcycle did not infringe on any trademarks or patents held by Excelsior after he had sold Henderson, making it a great investment. Production was moved to Springfield and the motorcycle was marketed as the Indian Ace for one year until Indian started developing the motorcycle themselves. In 1930 Indian merged with duPont Motors. duPont Motors founder E. Paul DuPont ceased production of duPont automobiles and concentrated the company's resources on Indian. DuPont's paint industry connections resulted in no fewer than 24 color options being offered in 1934. The Indian Four was discontinued in 1943. Production of the Scout ceased in 1948. Production of the Chief ended in 1953. The Indian brand was resurrected for a short time in Gilroy, California, from 1999 until 2003. Originally, these bikes utilized off-the-shelf S&S engines. An all-new 100ci Powerplus engine design ran from 2002 to 2003. Unfortunately, the company succumbed to bankruptcy again in late 2003, after a major investor backed out. On July 20, 2006, the newly formed Indian Motorcycle Company, owned largely by Stellican Limited, a London-based private equity firm, announced its new home in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, where it plans to resurrect the iconic Indian Motorcycle Brand. The new Indian Motorcycle Company has goals of producing a new Chief using a modern fuel-injected 100ci V-Twin engine which they are building in-house. The new Chief will also have the classic valanced fenders.
http://www.indianmotorcycle.com/
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