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A Letter From Gilroy ( Gilroy Commercial)


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:rotfl: Not to pick that video apart but....................I think I counted 5 times where they had "were here for you" (past tense as if they are gone) vice we're (we are) here for you. Maybe they had more foresight than we thought. :rotfl:

 

And on one occasion they had "Where".

Edited by Vintage229
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Caulk gun full of redloktyt on a workcart at 00.23 seconds...looks like a fun place to sweat your balls off! :grin:

 

 

Thanks Rick, I had forgotten about this clip from 2000

Edited by CHIEF DOC 99
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:rotfl: Not to pick that video apart but....................I think I counted 5 times where they had "were here for you" (past tense as if they are gone) vice we're (we are) here for you. Maybe they had more foresight than we thought. :rotfl:

 

And on one occasion they had "Where".

 

I guess using the "Queen's english" wasn't their focus - wait a minute, neither was properly building the PowerPlus engine.

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I wonder what happened to Tomas Padilla?

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Wow tough crowd. I thought the video was a little sad.

It's sad becasue they had every oppourtunity to be successful and they blew it. They were even in the black wehn the plug was pulled in 2003. WTF was up with that?

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They were even in the black wehn the plug was pulled in 2003. WTF was up with that?

 

That's correct.

It's a common misconception that GIlroy was bankrupt when they closed.

What really happened was, between warranty claims on the PP100, R&D costs on both the PP100 and the new bikes, (not to mention they had far too many Chiefs in relation to Indians) they had eaten up all their operating capital and were banking on an investor to prop them up into the next model year.

 

The investor was Proton, a Malaysian motorcycle manufacturer.

Proton got wind of the condition Gilroy was in, and said, "OK. Fine...we will drop in the $50 million we promised to invest...but we want 51% of the company." Obviously, that would make them the majority stockholder and effectively give them complete control of the company.

 

IMCOA's board and investors (essentially, Audax Corp. out of Boston) refused to give up control, and decided to simply take a loss and write it off as a tax loss.

At the time of the closure, 6 of the 9 IMCOA board members were from Audax.

 

From that time:

 

 

"Indian defends its actions

Friday, September 26, 2003

By Peter Crowley

GILROY - Indian Motorcycle had no choice but to close its doors without giving employees any kind of advance notice or severance pay, Indian Board Chairman Frank O’Connell said Wednesday. Many of Indian’s 380 laid-off employees say they feel betrayed by the company’s quick actions.

The reason Indian’s Board of Directors decided on Sept. 18 to cease production and lay off its staff was that its majority stockholder, Audax Group of Boston, decided to halt its millions of dollars of investment, according to O’Connell. At that point, O’Connell said, the company had only enough money remaining to give its employees one last paycheck and extend their health benefits for another month. Beyond that, preserving the company’s assets for its creditors became its top priority.

“There was no money in the company to pay severance,” O’Connell said. If the company had done so, he said, its creditors could have sued for distributing assets beyond what was expressly required by law. Severance pay is not required by law, according to O’Connell.

Extending employee health insurance through the end of October was an “unusual” move, O’Connell said, which “took a substantial amount of the remaining cash in the company.”

As for advance notice, O’Connell said Indian was exempt from a state labor law that requires 60 days warning when 50 or more workers are laid off. The law exempts businesses that are “actively seeking capital or business (that), if obtained, would have enabled the employer to avoid or postpone the relocation or termination.” In addition, “the employer (must) reasonably and in good faith (have) believed that giving the notice ... would have precluded the employer from obtaining the needed capital or business.”

 

Translation: Audax used a loophole to screw Indian's employees out of severance pay.

 

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I've done a lot of reading over the last few years on this subject, but realizing I'd just scratched the surface. Glad this was posted. I'm getting an awesome history lesson here!

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THE FOLLOWING IS ONLY RAMBLINGS ON AND DO NOT REFLECT VIEWS OF ANYBODY BUT MMEEE!!!

Not location, location, location, but price, price, price!! I can go up to HD and get CVO Roadglide for less than Indian wants for Chief with TTOOONNNS of stuff already on it. I know that they are targeting the 20k-25k market, but lowering prices means less stuff or something is going to suffer.AND AND did i say AND there is acual building ,and people that i take it back to. The days when Harleys were laughed at they had a big market share and they were days away from bankruptcy. Indian skipped the first part and went directly to the later.

I love owning something that is not the norm, but the only war will be a verbal one.

Polaris is going to put out a bike but , and i do mean but, they will have to overcome the bad taste and experience that RIDERS have and still experience with the brand.

You do not see many Visions and they have good engineering incorporated in to them. From the start they will be considered the bastard step child of Polaris.

 

Billy Joe and Jay leno buyers will not make them feasable. What will make them a brand to recon with will be a road worthy bike.

It worries me with the shot of the control they showed because it sure looks aaa Cheap.

 

Some here show strong convicions to the brand, and i take my hat off to you, but i am toooo old to see this war because there is a deep mental hole that the Indian Name has been put into by 99-03 bikes. They f*#k up the 99-03 and then they f*#k up the 03-13 with toooooo many reliability issues. Most of us have 2 bikes because of not trusting dependability of th Indian. In my personal view bike are not trophies but toys to be played with( Unless your married then it's the second thing you play with)

 

Indian brand died in 53 and just the name has hung around for years now sone one need to revive it and that does not happen in an unveiling although it is a start. I really hope my rant is proven wrong since i am an avid rider and think Harley is NUTS anymore!!!

You can sing and dance around the elaphant but it is still there.

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Some interesting posts. thanks.

 

IMCOA gilroy did manage to build hundreds of 88-inch mills correctly. They proved that, given a good KIT the production line had the ability to put engines together properly.

 

As for 2014 Indians. Arguably, we are now going through the prelude to a period that will be in the history books as The 2014 Harley vs Indian War. These battles were happening long before any of us were born. They will continue after we are all dust.

 

I'd wager there is, at least, one man who is spending plenty wapum on secret spies and high level informers right now. He might even miss his next tropical vacation over it.

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ride um

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indiantoo you make great points that reflect what alot of non-Indian (99-13) die hards feel.

But you are mistaken when you say Indian died in 1953, it was only the manufacturing side that died. The Indian Sales Company went on until the ealry 60's and started off selling Indian badged Royal Enfileds and then in 1960, swtiched to matchless with "Indian" names like Apache, Trailblazer and Pinto. Indian dealerships at that time still carried Indian spares as well as the Indian script on their signs, posters and ads. It was only when Asscoiated Motorcycles (MAtchless/AJS/Norton) collapsed inthe mid 60's did Indian finally go silent.

 

Now the story I heard about Clymer was he simply started using the Indian name and brand, and nobody from the UK contested him. That is where the curent Indian copyright can be traced back to, not AMC London and the Indian Sales Company. Some have argued that it is either the new Norton or Triumph (Hinckley) that owns the copyright due to all the mergers n the British industry during the 60's and 70's.

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Got away from the job early yesterday. Looked at the Vic sitting in the carport that hadn't been touched since at least November. Took the cover off and turned the key on. Didn't really expect to see lights. Turned the key and hit the start. Started right up. With all I've done to the Vintage it still won't do that. If Polaris can put that technology into Indian without fkn up the looks they got a sure winner.

 

And the temp was about 32 and had been for a while.

Edited by Vintage62
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Guess I've been blessed with my Gilroy's, as I've had one starter gear, one starter relay and one starter cable come loose. I will say I am overly anal on my going through each and every bike top to bottom and applying all the know how I've gained here BEFORE I ever put my wife or daughter on the back of one. Thank you to ALL the Indian riders on this forum for this.

 

Did Gilroy Indians have problems yes and the brand died because of them. WE keep the flame on and burning bright.

 

Can Polaris build a world class bike YES. Can Polaris incorporate the heritage of the brand into one, YES. Lets see the final product and decide, only then will the jury decide and render a verdict.

 

This is my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

Mark

Edited by seefriedm
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Polaris should look at how Triumph was brought back and not look to Excelsior Henderson, Norton or Moto Morini for inspiration.

They did, that's why they hired Ross. He was the guy who oversaw Triumph's return...

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Polaris is going to put out a bike but , and i do mean but, they will have to overcome the bad taste and experience that RIDERS have and still experience with the brand.

 

 

There are less than 15k '99-'13 Indians on the road. Of that, less have had a bad experience. Polaris in shooting for figures in the high five or six digits of annual production one day...

 

I don't think a group of disgruntled Gilroy and a handful of KM owners is much to overcome?

Edited by rickkcir
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If anyone can do justice to Indian, Spirit Lake should be an excellent choice. IMO

 

Other than a "George Jetson issue" IMSL has proven successful manufactuirng process, marketing, and service to go with it. New SL Indians will be, somewhat, derivative to well regarded four wheel and two wheel motor vehicles that have been on the road for many years.

 

No one has a crystal ball on this however, I for one have well over $30K invested in the Brand at this point. Would do it all again in a heart beat. Every time he roars up the freeway ramp along the beach....blah blah blah.

 

ride um

 

<cheers>

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