Today in motorcycle history, November 1, 1945

 


 
 

 

  On November 1, 1945, change comes to Springfield, E. Paul du Pont hands over the keys to Indian Motorcycles.

  In 1930, Indian merged with DuPont Motors.  DuPont Motors founder E. Paul du Pont decided to cease production of DuPont automobiles and concentrate all of the company's resources on Indian.  du Pont's paint industry connections resulted in no fewer than 24 color options being offered in 1934.  Models of that era began using Indian's famous head-dress logo on the gas tank. 

   In 1940, Indian sold nearly as many motorcycles as its major rival, Harley-Davidson.  During this time, the company also manufactured an array of other products such as aircraft engines, bicycles, boat motors and air conditioners.  Anything to keep the boat afloat.  When du Pont first took over Indian was losing hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, but by 1939 the company was earning unprecedented profits, in part due to the military demands of the Allies at the start of World War II and the rush of domestic buyers anticipating the scaling back of civilian production during a time of war.  While the turnaround was good for Indian, it also made the company more attractive for a possible buyout.

  By the mid-1940s, du Pont’s health was failing and he felt he could no longer manage the day-to-day operations of Indian.  He and the board of directors began entertaining offers to buy Indian over cocktails at a local  Springfield gin-joint.  In 1945, a group headed by Ralph Rogers purchased a controlling interest of the company.  On November 1, 1945, du Pont formally turned the operations of Indian over to Rogers.

 

  Under Rogers' control, Indian discontinued most of it's profitable and best selling bikes (good financial move there, Ralphy-boy) and began to manufacture lightweight motorcycles such as the 149 Arrow and the Super Scout 249, both introduced in 1949, and in 1950 introduced the 250 Warrior.  Production of traditional Indians was extremely limited in 1949, and no 1949 Chiefs are known to exist.  Sadly, Indian halted all production in 1953.

  du Pont will be remembered for keeping Indian open during the darkest days of the Depression by focusing on its core business of building motorcycles.  He backed the engineering department’s continued development of improved models and kept the company’s racing program vibrant under the new Class C rules.  He was also an enthusiastic backer of the AMA and was involved in activities of the association.  He died at the family estate in Delaware on September 26, 1950.

 

  E. Paul du Pont was inducted in the AMA Hall of Fame n 2004.

Today in motorcycle history, October 31, 1969

 


 

 

  The Triumph X75 Hurricane prototype was sent to England on October 31, 1969 and sat collecting dust until mid-June, 1970, when it was shipped directly to Cycle World magazine in the US.

 

  The 'factory custom’ is an oxymoron that Harley-Davidson should have a trademark on.  They've almost made it an art form for Crissakes.  And nearly all other manufacturers have followed suit. 

  But, it was BSA that pioneered this now-successful formula, with Craig Vetter’s strikingly styled X75 Hurricane in 1973.  Not only was the X75 the world’s first 'factory custom', it also influenced later mainstream motorcycle design.  

 

The Hurricane grew out of the lukewarm response to the original BSA Rocket Three in the US.  It was considered the ugly girl in the back row so, in 1969, BSA in the US approached a young designer, Craig Vetter, to produce a prototype custom Rocket Three.

 

  Vetter’s own philosophy was to contrast the age-old traditions of the British motorcycle industry with the American underground youth culture.

  He set to work on a stock 750cc BSA Rocket Three, creating a single curvaceous molded gas tank, seat and side panels.  The 750cc three-cylinder engine was left basically stock, Vetter modified the cylinder head by enlarging the fin area. This was done purely for aesthetic reasons, as were the black-painted cylinder barrels.

  The distinctive triple mufflers sweeping to the right were derived from those of the Team BSA flat tracker.  These may have worked well on left-turns but they severely limited right-hand-side ground clearance.  Oops.

  Going for a leaner look, Vetter installed separate instruments and a traditional chromed headlamp.  The gaitered forks also made way for what was considered cleaner Ceriani-style ones, these were later lengthened 50mm by Pete Coleman at BSA in the UK for a slight 'chopper' look.  Painting the prototype in ‘Camaro Hugger Red’, Vetter had this up and running by September, 1969.

BSA executives approved a limited-production run of the Vetter Rocket during 1971 to test the market which, at the time, was a huge surprise considering the company was walking on eggshells financially.  However, piss-poor management saw the entire Triumph and BSA line-up miss the 1971 US season and it wasn’t until late 1971 that the pre-production Vetter Rocket appeared.

When production ended in January 1973, only 1172 were built.

 

  Little known fact -  BSA in the UK initially knew nothing of the Hurricane project.  It was conceived by Don Brown, director of the BSA Group’s eastern facility, BSA INC., in Nutley, New Jersey.  The project was financed from office petty cash and kept secret from BSA Group management in England until it was completed.  Brown resigned from BSA in 1970.