Classic Indian Motorcycles Purr Back to Life in Fullerton Shop
Mike Ittner knelt in admiration at the side of the fully restored Indian Chief, examining the classic motorcycle’s hand-painted logo, V-twin cylinders and tractor-style seat.
Ittner, a Tucson, Ariz., cabinetmaker, was in Southern California on business. But he had arranged to make a pilgrimage to Starklite Cycle in Fullerton--one of only two companies in the nation that specialize in restoring Indian motorcycles.
The Chief that was the object of Ittner’s attention is one of four completely restored motorcycles in the tiny showroom; the busy shop in the rear of the small office has another dozen Indians in various stages of restoration.
With six employees and an annual gross of about $250,000, 15-year-old Starklite has become a thriving enterprise, rebuilding old Indians shipped in from all over the world.
The nature of the business, and the lure of the Indian, is such that Mike Tomas, parts manager for the company, also doubles as tour guide, showing around the Indian enthusiasts--like Ittner--who invariably appear each week to visit the shop.
Boxes of Parts
On a recent tour, Tomas showed a visitor a typical pre-restoration “basket case”--a rusted frame and several boxes of parts that had been shipped to Starklite from Peru by the owner. Tomas estimates it will take 200 hours to restore the cycle to the near-new condition of the finished models in the front office.
The Indian, with its foot-operated clutch, hand-operated gear shift and the logo of an Indian in full-feathered headdress on the fuel tank, was considered by many to be the finest motorcycle on the road in the 1940s. “It was very technically advanced . . . streaks ahead of its time,” Tomas said.
But in 1949, the Indian Motorcycle Co., the Springfield, Mass., firm that had built the cycles since 1901, changed the basic design--and saw sales skid. The company also had financial problems with some of its other interests, which included shock absorbers and outboard boat engines.
In 1950, Indian was sold to an English company, which continued to make the American-style bikes through 1953. For the next several years, control of the company then passed through a chain of owners, said Bob Stark, owner of Starklite, president of the 700-member, Anaheim-based Indian Motorcycle Club of America and author of a 52-page history of the Indian.
But none of the motorcycles that Indian’s new owners were importing from manufacturers overseas were successful--most were smaller cycles with names like Papoose, Tomahawk, Fire Arrow, Woodsman, Apache, Trail Blazer and Lance--and the company eventually died.
The Indian name was revived for a short time when American Moped Associates in Irvine bought the rights to it from a bankruptcy court for $10,000 in 1978 and commissioned the manufacture of a moped, which apparently ceased production in 1982.
Many Still Around
But by Stark’s reckoning there are tens of thousands of old Indian motorcycles scattered around the world--either still on the road or collecting dust in garages.
“There are still umpteen barns that have Indians under a pile of hay,” said Buzz Walneck, the Woodridge, Ill.-based publisher of Old Time Cycles, a monthly magazine devoted to vintage motorcycles.
Apparently, a growing number of people are finding old Indians under piles of hay these days. Tomas says business at Starklite has been “going crazy” this year.
When customers come to Starklite, frames and boxes of parts in hand, they often are not aware of how complicated a restoration job can be, Tomas said.
“Most people start with a pile of junk,” he said. “The problems have just begun.”
At Starklite, Indians spanning the entire history of the company are in various stages of renewal. Some parts for Indian’s most popular models--Chief, Scout and the Indian Four, a four-cylinder in-line model--are obtained from suppliers around the country. But most are fabricated right in the shop. The company makes 2,500 different parts, Stark said.
A typical restoration costs between $9,000 and $10,000, he said, but owners have spent as much as $40,000 to have their Indians restored and fitted with electric starters and other modern hardware.
Rebuilders and owners seem to have an affinity for the bikes that borders on religion.
“Anybody who has an Indian can ride to a local motorcycle meet and people will swarm around the bike,” said Chuck Myles, whose Sloansville, N.Y.-based Indian Co. is the only other restoration shop in the nation specializing in Indians and the manufacture of restoration parts for the motorcycles.
