Indian Tadpole

GoldenMotor.com

curtisfox

Well-Known Member
Dec 29, 2008
6,082
4,056
113
minesota
WOW! Nice bikes, love them old Indians, no matter what way they are built. Got to watch some of that sale on TV,sure was awesome......................Curt
 

fasteddy

Well-Known Member
Feb 13, 2009
7,475
4,962
113
British Columbia Canada
When I was looking through the internet for photos of the Indian sidecar I came across this site. I've seen it before and wanted to send it to my son when he was in Buenos Aires for a few days waiting for his flight home.

His bike is in Uruguay for the year he will be away. When he goes back in April I'll have to have him look at these. I don't know what the price is but they are building a street model. I'm wondering if they could add a sidecar frame.

English is on the top right hand side. Interview is dubbed in English.

Steve.

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=...s.com/&usg=AFQjCNF36657o01OWMjaIoMG8vof0kiuqA
 

Allen_Wrench

Resident Mad Scientist
Feb 6, 2010
2,784
26
36
Indianapolis
I've drooled over that site before, and lost track of time. It is nice to see that faithful reconstructions of the old 8-valves live on. I've watched a video where they had an original up and running. The sound they make, and the fire they shoot out, is genuinely goosebump-inducing.
 

fasteddy

Well-Known Member
Feb 13, 2009
7,475
4,962
113
British Columbia Canada
A.W.

My son was in Buenos Aires for a week at the end of March and I tried to find this site to see if he could go and look at them. I couldn't before he left but he'll be back there next March.

Steve.
 

fasteddy

Well-Known Member
Feb 13, 2009
7,475
4,962
113
British Columbia Canada
That's true Rick. A bit of optimism on my part for sure. Maybe a 250cc would be more realistic and that would be at the bottom end of the scale. I tend to think more of a back roads rider and swap meet pick up vehicle.

I think it would look a lot better if it was parked in my garage though.

Steve.
 

indian22

Well-Known Member
Dec 31, 2014
4,734
7,740
113
Oklahoma
My garage is full but I'd give some stuff away to make room for it. Heck I'd build a room on the house for it!

Friend of mine, same one who stored my Simplex for over 30 years in the "barn" sat down with me at the coffee shop. He's a good man and looks like the handsome identical twin to Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top (also an acquaintance of mine) and Wendel (the good looking one) has a knack for finding great stuff some of which is sometimes rare. Seems he's found something else in the barn, not his magic barn but a "cuzin's" barn that's even more stuffed than his own. It's an Indian single cylinder that's mostly all there it seems, but Wendel was wondering if I could give them the Simplex front and rear fenders to put on it 'cuz they had a front & rear Simplex set of fenders that were pretty rusted out and when they tried 'em on the Indian they fit perfectly! I'm speechless through this whole story. They found a freakin' Indian in the barn! I gave him the fenders & I'm hoping they don't get messed up and forget where they left the Indian or one of the other 'cuzin's or brothers (10 boys) don't cut it up for scrap. They've been known to enjoy a bottle or 2. Rick C.
 

fasteddy

Well-Known Member
Feb 13, 2009
7,475
4,962
113
British Columbia Canada
Rick,

Sweet Heavens, who left the Indian in the barn this long? That is the true meaning of a barn find in it's fullest sense of the saying even if they knew it was there. Did they have a year for the Indian?
Messed up enough to cut up an Indian? I've been there myself a time or two. Probably a good thing I didn't own an Indian or what seemed like a wonderfully good idea at the time may have gone horribly wrong or I'd wake up in the morning with a $100 and no idea where the bike went.

I have a picture of your friend in my mind and he is one of those rare individuals who knows everyone for 50 miles in any direction and is the kind of fella who stops at the coffee shop and someone asks if he wants their Dads old motorcycle that's in the shed they are about to pull down.

It, of course, will be a 1907 Indian or a Flying Merkle and all there and in good shape and gets added to the collection in his barn.

I would find myself forced to push the tri car outside to make room for the Harley tri car myself. I highly doubt that I will ever be forced to make that decision unfortunately.

Steve.
 

indian22

Well-Known Member
Dec 31, 2014
4,734
7,740
113
Oklahoma
You do know the guy. Pickup truck full of the days pickings, no matter the time of day and different stuff each time you see it. "Might need it someday" is the motto. Heart of gold. Now next time I see him it might turn out to be that the bike they found was one of those little junky scramblers Indian made, but just might be a 1906 or '07 single. My money would be on the later but not even money...maybe 6 to 1 odds. Rick C.
 

fasteddy

Well-Known Member
Feb 13, 2009
7,475
4,962
113
British Columbia Canada
Spent most of my working life and a lot of my teenage years involved in the antique furniture refinishing business and therefore the antique business. Buying and selling as well as owning the then interesting old cars and motorcycles started it all. It was indeed a slippery slope but the ride was so much fun.

Your friend would have fit right in to the crowd that sat around my refinishing shop visiting the beer fridge after hours. The game started every time with, do you want to sell that ?????? on the truck?. Nope, might need it to fix my broken ?????? that's in the barn. Trouble was that he put what ever needed repairing in the barn 15 years ago and it was under a pile at least ten feet high.

Pack rats. You just have to love the two legged kind. As you said they all have a heart of gold and if you were desperate to have something they had, they would dig into the pile until they found it but only if they liked you.

I'll bet your odds are spot on. Be nice if we were wrong wouldn't it.

Steve.
 

indian22

Well-Known Member
Dec 31, 2014
4,734
7,740
113
Oklahoma
You get it Steve. The story's not about the Indian,well not entirely at least, but about a certain type of people. Won't sell it but will give it to you. Reciprocate appropriately on another occasion & your on the way to being in the club/game.

I'll be pulling that Simplex fender today unless he needs the fork as well. I'd kinda sorta planed to use the fork as the base for the front end of the V twin but lot of options open on that; as this is now & the V twin is later. I'm hoping the Indian is an early century & not a mid century faux Indian, dirt bike. Description is a bit sketchy, but may expand a bit over coffee this A.M. Wendel's not a big talker.

Who doesn't like a good treasure hunt adventure story? Rick C.
 

fasteddy

Well-Known Member
Feb 13, 2009
7,475
4,962
113
British Columbia Canada
I know your right about the Indian Rick but deep down we're all hoping it's the real thing and your absolutely right, it is the people. My English grandmother always said if you want to find a fool in the country you better bring him with you.

The antique business was peopled with folks like your friend. Both my mother and her mother were antique dealers. I was condemned from birth it seems to follow them. You are judged on your word and a handshake. Bad checks and dirty dealings were heard about in a matter of hours a hundred miles away.

I always said that for most of my life I never worked. What I did wasn't work it was a joy. When you can take a grain sack full of furniture parts and hand the owners their grandparents or in some cases their great grandparents furniture back looking like it did when it was first bought and see the look of happiness spread across their faces it just can't be called work.

Steve.
 

indian22

Well-Known Member
Dec 31, 2014
4,734
7,740
113
Oklahoma
Steve it is a real Indian Morini 2 stroke built in Taiwan during the early 1970's....bummer. Nice find but no real treasure here. I did however locate a complete HD "knucklehead" motor in excellent external condition...running status unknown but does turn over. Shipping it to my "elf lord" Harley guy to rebuild along with a later model tranny.

I imagine that BC has changed rather slowly as has Indian Territory, yet change it has. My dad was a rancher who dealt in livestock, cattle & horses. Deals were always a handshake guarantee, back out on your word and as you said everyone knew about it. I've seen my dad write checks for thousands of dollars on a piece of "ruled" paper...no problem they cashed. Life wasn't easy then but it was a lot simpler. I grew up in a good home yet we had no electricity, indoor plumbing or phone. Water from a well, pumped by hand & "toilet" out back. In 1955 a power line finally reached our remote ranch & in just a few months all these luxuries were added plus TV! It certainly was a blessing to my mom & and probably added decades to her life. Change is certainly a two edged sword. Rick C.
 

MEASURE TWICE

Well-Known Member
Jul 13, 2010
2,775
1,274
113
CA
Using my laptop, had a problem with keeping touchpad turned off. I like using just a usb wireless track ball. Too many unintentional bumps to touch pad foul up everything. After hearing how much I could spend on after warranty support, the only thing that helped was a uninstall of driver and reinstall which I never meant to happen, but it was forced as part of a request for a second reboot. Everything from there on worked with the setting allowing to shut off the %*($# Touchpad! More complicated now than when using a slide rule? But I figured it out.

I didn't go to pointless ignition on my Briggs and you can't make me!

MT
 

fasteddy

Well-Known Member
Feb 13, 2009
7,475
4,962
113
British Columbia Canada
Just had to be to good to be true. At least you didn't drive 200 miles to find out. Where did you find the Harley motor and trans?

Things are changing here in my part of B.C. So many Asian investors buying what ever they can just to get their money out of their country. My brother and sister in laws house that they bought 30 years ago for $107,000 is now worth $2,000,000 but you can't afford to move because of the price of property elsewhere.

Two edged sword indeed.

Steve.
 

indian22

Well-Known Member
Dec 31, 2014
4,734
7,740
113
Oklahoma
Steve the answer is the Knuckle head engine & 4 speed transmission (not original) is partial payment for a repair bill on a Pete tractor Kittycat diesel. The Harley is supposedly a 1947 (last year of production for the knucklehead) & the cases are perfect. Transmission just rebuilt, I'm having that checked out...engine was running, but rough. I'll probably find a home for them one day cause I don't want yet another bike project at this time.

Big money both foreign & domestic are also pricing average families out of the market in our mountain states also. No problem here in Indian Territory as hardly anyone knows we exist. Kinda cool no? RC