Indian, 1922, Chief with sidecar

Indian “Chief with sidecar”, 1922, USA

998 cc V-twin engine with 3 speeds.

The two most famous Indian models, the Scout and the Chief, were both born in the 20s. The models shared the same engine architecture: 42° V twin, 596cc for the first and a liter for the second. They both gained a good reputation for their toughness and  reliability, causing them to be sold, with modernizations, for thirty years.

In the mid 20s Indian big twins were the Chief 61 and the Chief 74, 997 cc and 1206 cc, respectively.

In 1927 Ace Motor Corporation bought Indian, refreshing the engine range, that already included medium displacement single-cylinders, with new straight-4s. In 1930 the company merged with the car manufacturer Du Pont Motors but soon the car production stopped to focus more on motorbikes.

The 1929 crysis hit Indian as well and the production fell to 4.500 bikes annually, a number that remained unchanged until WWII. Indian was indeed the greatest rival of Harley-Davidson, the other US big motorcycle company.