Indian Undone

INDIAN UNDONE

Murder in Massachusetts

TRUTH BE TOLD, THE ARROW AND SCOUT LIGHTWEIGHTS, introduced in 1948, aren't really what killed Indian. Lay the blame for that squarely at the feet of poor strategic planning, undercapitalization, godawful buildquality and plain ol’ bad luck.

On the surface, Indian’s belated embrace of the modern lightweight concept seemed a good move. Between 1946 and ’47, U.S. bike registrations doubled to 400,000, spearheaded by a flood of British imports, most 500cc or under. Overall design and engineering for the new Indians was carried out by G. Briggs Weaver, the man responsible for many of Indian’s 1930s successes. If you believe the Wigwam’s PR flackery of the day, more than $6 million was spent on R&D, tooling and a new automated assembly plant in East Springfield. Celebrities like Jane Russell, Alan Ladd and baseball pitcher Bob Feller were paid to sing the appropriate praises. Certainly the bikes, with their tightly finned, all-alloy engines and artistic styling, were beautiful to behold.

So what happened?

Chintzy ignition systems is what happened. Bitterly hard starting is what happened. Oiling systems that wet-sumped at will is what happened. The unforgivable omission of primary-chain adjustment is what happened. Runaway welding slag in oil tanks is what happened. Finally, a 25 percent devaluation of the British pound is what happened, making Triumphs,

Nortons, BSAs, Ariels, et al that much more attractive.

By 1950, most of the quality-control problems had been cleared up

and an enlarged, off-road 500cc Twin called the Warrior TT was released. This was successful in competition, notching notable steeplechase and enduro victories, and a road-only version was tentatively planned for 1952-53 production.

But the damage had been done. With creditors closing in, the last few American-made Indians, 80-cube Chiefs made up mostly of spare parts, trickled off the assembly line in the summer of 1953. -David Edwards