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 One
generally notable omission when enthusiasts talk of historic Indian
motorcycles is the Light Twin which is a radical departure from the big
V-twins which had already established a good reputation by the time that
the Light Twin came out in 1917.
It had a 250cc side-valve flat-twin engine with the cylinders lying
for-and aft, magneto ignition and an outside flywheel.
According to the descriptive brochure, the cylinders were provided with
generous cooling fins, but as these were at right-angles to the air-flow
and the rear cylinder was badly shrouded, it is doubtful if the claimed
output of the full brake horse power could have been sustained for any
appreciable shock less jolt less, noiseless, jerking riding comfort but in
view of the rigid forks this statement was probably just a wee bit
exaggerated and in any case these attributes were not sufficient
To keep the model in production for long. Wal Maynard of the Vintage MCC
of Victoria has restored one to what he trusts is its pristine vigor.
The 350cc single-cylinder Indian Prince was brought out in 1925 as a
counterblast to the small English machines, which were beginning to gain a
foothold in the American market. It was a more successful model than the
Light Twin and was evidently the outcome of a close study of several
imported machines. It has a rigid frame and girder forks with a central
spring and except for the color scheme, bore a strong resemblance to the
Raleigh. The engine had a detachable cylinder head and one of the gems in
the publicity material which caused some amusement was the statement that
the head could be removed and replaced 72 times without renewing the
gasket. Nobody seemed to know why such a monumental number of detachments
would ever be required but some very prospective customers seemed to be
impressed. The Prince was not very fast, but it was reliable and the
Australian rider Vic Barclay broke a couple of intercapital records on
one.
The 216cc single and 433 parallel twin which were introduced after the was
were reputedly designed for the Indian factory by two Dutchmen named
Stockvis. They had been virtually hounded out of their business as DKW
distributors in Holland by the Nazi regime on account of their Jewish
blood. Being also Velocette agents they came over to Birmingham with a 125
DKW to see if Velocette could produce a similar model. I was at Velocette
at the time and after the machine was virtually dismantled, we concluded
that we had no machine tools suitable for the job. They then went to Tony
Wilson-Jones of Royal Enfield, who agreed to the project and production
started in time to supply a large number to the air-borne troops for use
against the German army. Rather a nice twist of fate.
 Later
on the Stockvis brothers went to the States and became involved in the new
Indians which were a costly failure partly because of their low
performance and the fact that they were too highly built to be reliable.
And also partly because to buyers loyal to the name-plate, an Indian just
had to look like an Indian, which at the period meant a cumbersome but
impressive V twin. This venture was said to have cost several million
dollars for tooling-up and the factory was disinclined to repeat the
process with another design despite the falling sales of the 74 cubic inch
Chief, which was then the factory’s only answer to the Harley Davidson.
The Vincent was also beginning to penetrate the market following its
capture of the American speed record.
In 1948 when P.C. Vincent was conducting a sales campaign in North
America, he met a very suave gentleman who happened to be the head man in
the Indian Company which was by then in very low water. An English
businessman named Brockhouse, who owned a number of engineering companies,
was anxious to obtain a controlling interest in Indian, and the upshot of
discussions by the three was that if the Vincent unit could be fitted in
the Chief frame without much alteration, the result would be a very
saleable machine with financial benefit to all concerned..
On receipt of drawings in England, I made a quick check which confirmed
the feasibility of the scheme and the result was that the Indian company
would contract to buy 100 power units and 50 Vincents with American
electrical equipment per week, provided Brockhouse could get a permit form
the British Government to export the funds necessary to buy a controlling
interest in Indian. This was very probable in view of the value of the
orders mentioned. There would also need to be some finance injected into
the Vincent Company to cover the greatly increased purchases of the
material but this was dismissed as a mere matter of a signature on a
cheque.
Everything worked pretty quickly. A Chief was shot over to Stevenage and
as a preliminary it was road tested. Its 580 pound weight seemed enormous
compared to the 450 pound Rapide and while it could attain 88 m.p.h. for a
short distance, the sustained maximum was only about 80.
After removing the engine and sawing off some unwanted frame parts, the
Vincent unit fitted in like a kernel in a nut. Engine plates were used
instead of the standard cylinder head brackets and the existing foot
boards and break pedal were retained but some cross-over linkage had to be
devised in order to use the near side heel-and-toe clutch pedal as a gear
change pedal.
The dynamo remained in the original position under the saddle (sorry
buddy-seat), and was belt-driven from a short shaft and pulley in the
space normally occupied by our Miller generator. The accompanying photo
shows how snugly the unit fitted in and also the way in which separate
exhaust pipes were used in order to retain existing silencers.
(more info on the Vindian available here)
The conversion job took only a couple of weeks and
although the finished article was not much lighter than the original, the
performance was vastly improved. Top speed went to 104 and it was as fast
as it used to be in top. Changing gear by foot instead of by hand improved
acceleration. Fuel consumption, although not as good as with the Rapide,
improved from about 35 m.p.g. to more like 50.
A Rapide was fitted with American electrics and the rear brake and gear
pedals changed over and the two machines were presented to the Board of
Trade. Brockhouse received permission to export funds required to buy the
Indian Co. as the proposed arrangement would have brought several million
dollars per year back into England.
To cope
with the increased output, orders for castings, forgings and accessories,
had been doubled and material was beginning to come in. So were the bills,
but the money so glibly promised, failed to materialize on the flimsy and
quite untrue grounds that the plant and stock did not provide sufficient
asset backing. Vincent had thus been wangled into an intolerable position
with the possibility of an enforced liquidation and sale of the factory to
the highest bidder, and there are no prizes guessing just who that would
have been. However, this situation was averted by action of the official
receiver after which the whole scheme fell to the ground. This was a great
pity because if it had come off, there is little doubt that the Indian
would have remained on the market and the Vincent factory also would have
benefited financially. As it was, the Indian Co. was forced to sell an
insignificant 250cc model to keep going at all and afterward handled Royal
Enfield bearing the Indian transfer. Finally the company was acquired by
Associated Motor Cycles in 1953 and the history of the famous company
founded by George Hendee, came to an end.
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