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.
