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Indian Recent History Lesson, Part Two. 1963-1970


Dr. Mark
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1963-1970

 

Floyd, Hap and Sammy were all, at one time or another, Indian dealers who were dismayed at the fall of Indian into sad times. Floyd and Hap tried to buy the Indian IP from Brockhouse, and may or may not have succeeded, depending on who you talked to.

In any case, after 1963, and there were no more Indians being/made/sold/badged Floyd (who made a shitload of money selling the famous "Clymer Automotive Manuals") invested his not-inconsiderable fortune into reviving Indian.

Sammy Pierce...who was Burt Munro's friend and salt-flat buddy... also started building Indians. Floyd probably had more legal right to the name, but Sammy was a friend of his, and Floyd didn't care. So there were a couple of different sorts of Indians being built in the 60's...

 

Sammy's Indians used the old type engine, surrounded by a more modern frame and gearbox...they were...well...

not very attractive.

...

DSC03436.jpg

 

Floyd on the other hand, started slapping the Indian name on whatever he could get his hands on/get the manufacturing rights to...

 

Minibikes...

 

Indian21.jpg

 

The Indian "Electracycle"...

 

dmelec.jpg

 

And even an Indian version of the German Munch Mammoth...

 

1969MunchMammoth.jpg

 

And here is Clymer's version of the Scout...

 

super_scout1.jpg

 

Arguably, the prettiest thing to pop out of Clymer's brain were these.

The 500cc Indian Velocette and 750cc Indian Enfield.

 

indian-velo-tn.jpg

 

Indian-Enfield-1.jpg

 

These were Clymer's last efforts. He died in 1970.

Sadly, during his lifetime, he was reviled by Indian enthusiasts for his indefatigable efforts to keep Indian alive.

They called him everyting from a charlatan to a grave robber.

 

They were wrong...those guys were yet to come...

 

 

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