The IORNZ 2001 Indian Rally Weekend finally arrived (see article here, and photo gallery here). I’d just sold my restored ’44 Chief and just finished the ’46 Chief Sidehack. With the usual rally race against the clock to get it ready and then learn how to drive it (sidehack) -  with only 2 days to do that it was a push!
The rally certainly had its highs and lows, on the high side I spotted Greg Cooney’s ’51 Chief,  (see articles #1, #2) the first Chief in New Zealand with telescopic forks. It was a stunner! - a credit to the man as he did almost all of it himself.
 The weather was great and venue and ride was fantastic. What more could an Indian enthusiast want? ..Well that ’51 Chief sure looked good, those telescopic forks sure looked sexy!.. I couldn’t get it out of my mind!

Then on the rally ride, disaster, my beloved ’46 Chief spat the dummy. It was running along up a hill, very hot day and two bangs, one click and it stopped,  trying to kick start it indicated it was seized. After 20 minutes I gave up and pushed it into a friendly barn. With stress levels rising, and Celistina and I now roasting in our leathers, we hitched a ride with the back up vehicle down to the sea and a local pub, where the rest of the tribe were relaxing. Straight to the bar for a cold beer while Celistina fired up the video camera and filmed said tribe. Then after some more fun, everyone fired up their machines while Celistina videoed them leaving and I sat in the support vehicle thinking about my poor Chief.

We had only gone 500 meters down the road when a rider just seemed to collapse, five minutes later John Hartley was dead. We were all in deep shock. My friend and sidecar mentor had gone doing what he loved best on a beautiful sunny day. It was during that weekend, sharing the companionship with some of the kindred souls around a large open fire under the stars, with Crazy Dave doing a rain dance with his war bonnet on and actually making rain, me playing my guitar and sending songs of hope that I decided life can be very short.

I had some spare cash from the sale of my 44 Chief so damn it,  I was going to get me a Telescopic Forked 80" Chief. Well the rally was over, my 46 & sidehack was at friend  Malcolm Brown’s (firedog)  where I stored it after recovering from the countryside.  It turned out an aluminum roller cage disintegrated and the engine recond guy had conveniently shot through. (He’ll keep for now!)

So how does a kiwi guy all the way down here in the bottom of the earth go about acquiring a 50’s Chief?... you surf the net of course, so I surfed and surfed until I thought this was going to be mission impossible. Looking at the prices these things seemed to be fetching and our NZ$ just 40c on the US$, good god!, was dreaming?. No!,  When I set my mind to something I see it through no matter what.
Then one night I see an advertisement, a guy called Jim selling a ’48 chief with telescopic forks for $11,000, worth a phone call..what time is it?- 1am here so I call his number and Jim answers. We talk some, he says that bike’s sold. However he has a ’53 that he might sell. I say when can I ring back and hassle you?. He says in a few days... Okay.

Taking in mind he is in Florida and its 7am in the morning there in two days time I phone  Jim back who seems like a nice guy, gut instinct tells me this and he says he’ll sell it for so much and I say 'I’ll let you know tomorrow after l do my sums etc. Next call is to find out what actually comes with the bike. Having restored a chief or two before I know what I can be in for, I learn its only missing foot boards, exhaust pipes, seat, trim etc. I keep asking questions thinking about everything and I ask and finally I’m satisfied. We crank the deal. Next I have to talk him into packing it up cause he doesn’t want to do it and its toll calls all the time. I organize my brother in law Colin who is big in freight and ships, Americas Cup boats (hmmm..who holds this cup again?)  amongst other things.


While waiting, I order what I think are the main missing parts from Starklite and get them to send the stuff to Jim. Out of my bank goes the umpteen thousand dollars straight into his. Colin rings me and says it’ll arrive in 18 days! 'You’re joking' I say. 'No I’m not says he'... Man alive that is quick. Overland across the states, onto a boat in L.A., across the Pacific to New Zealand then from Port of Tauranga on a train up to Auckland. During the wait Celistina and I went to see ‘Castaway’, there’s this scene where a giant container ship cruises by Tom Hanks.. I said to Celistina there’s my bike on the boat!

The wait is stressful. All that money gone and nothing to show for it. Then April the 18th Colin rings to say the bike has arrived and asks me to bring a cheque for the freight and tax. How much?.. who cares, you can’t think about the money, think about the bike. Well we cracked open the crate. I must say it was very well packed although it did cost me another $500  for Jim to pack it.
 

At first sight you kind of have a lot of hope! Could this be a bike that just needs petrol and new plugs??... But alas it looked like something that you would find at the local dump. Colin looked amused!. Celistina could see beyond the rust though and whispered words of encouragement. I’m a very lucky man to have a wife like her! <Editors Note: You sure are, and she doesn't mind getting her hands dirty even! >
Upon hauling it home and ripping the crate open, I began studying it, getting a line on it, hey this is actually straight, the frame isn’t bent, the motor fits perfectly, the rear guard isn’t too bad... I think you psych yourself into the positives.

The forks were possibly off a slightly earlier bike because the dust covers were black. The rear guard said 'Police' because of the siren hole. There was no seat bracket,  that said bench seat...eng and frame serial numbers were CS 6xxxx- matching numbers! - yes great!.
I take the heads off, hey this engines been reconditioned I bet. Both Celistina and I spend a week after putting the kids to bed chipping away at the rust and finally gradually taking the rolling chassis apart. Everything goes into labeled bags.


continued in Part Two, The Real Restoration Begins..