All schoolboys doodle. Jet fighters cars and stuff like that. I know I did. But I also drew Choppers. Last year, my Mum gave me some old schoolbooks, and I found the doodle you’ll see somewhere here. I was pretty amazed as I hadn’t seen it since I was 16.

Now, if you know anything about bikes, look closely at it. For a start, the style dates it perfectly to @1966-67. But look at the engine. Whilst it’s not a very good rendition, I’ve drawn an Indian motor. There’s no doubting it! But if you have a look at the doodle by the bit of maths, it gets even wierder. There’s a round face in a silly hat. It’s “Desperate Dan”. Now, how strange is that? Maybe I had a premonition of how my future would turn out.

I turned up at work one day on my £12/10- Velocette Chop, and one of the blokes said “I know where there’s an old bike in a barn (yes, it happened a lot then, @ 1972), so he took me out to show me it. It used to be a bike once, but not anymore. The

farmer had cut the frontend and back frame off to make a trailer. After much haggling, I bought the middle section for a tenner. Lot of money back then. What I’d bought was the remains of a 1939 Indian Scout Vee-Twin. Everyone thought I was mad. I decided to do up the engine, and took the heads off. Takes about 2 minutes on a side valve! I couldn’t believe my eyes. The pistons were greased. The motor was brand-new and had never been run. It would eventually end up in the Velocette.
Later, on a visit to Santa-Pod, I saw three chops sat in the pits. They were so nice they’d put any of the crap being built nowadays to shame. One was an Indian Chief. It’s owner was a guy

called “Dizz”. If anyone knows him, get him to contact me. You just don’t see many Indians, even today. But I’d fallen totally in love with them.

Yep…he’s a She. Called Bella because of the registration. Quite a famous bike, and without a doubt the most photographed Indian in the UK. She’s been in BSH twice, a huge spread in Custom Bike, and is in Caz Carrol & Gary Stuarts book on Indians, to mention just a few. The black & white pics you see are the originals from the Custom Bike shoot, by Howard Morris, and are extremely high quality.

One day at work, I got a call from an old mate down in Bournemouth. “Would you be interested in buying my Indian”? he asked. I’d known him years and never knew he has one. I just said “Yes”. I’d never even seen it. Not so much as a ’photo. A deal was done there and then. Another mate, Ian Kilner, was working in Bournemouth. Funny world, innit? And had a big van, so I gave him the money and he promised to collect it for me. A week later, he dropped it off. We wheeled it out of the van, dripping in oil and rust and I kicked it over. Fired second kick, and sat there ticking over. Sounded nice to me, then Ian noticed the rear plug-lead was off. Sounded even better after I put it back on. It had been a “Rat” all its life. It was to stay

that way for years to come. As I wheeled it into the shop, Ian shouted “Oi…what about these boxes”? There was a pile of packing cases in his van. Colin had mentioned something about having a few spares. I stuck them in a corner and forgot about them.
When I got her, (“IT” is now becoming “SHE”), she had Matchless forks and flat bars. The main change was to rake the frame and fit the Harley frontend. Those forks came off a ‘45 of the same age. I found out some history. She was brought over here during the Second World War (1942), released for Civilian use in 1946, and spent several years as a patrol bike with Middlesborough Police. I used her as daily transport for many years. One morning, I was returning from a party, severely the worse for weather, and just approaching Leighton Buzzard, when she seized. Locked solid. She’d always used a lot of oil (leaks) and in my rush to get home, I hadn’t bothered to check the tank. She was rolled into a corner of the shop and got a good ticking off. There she sat for a couple of years.
Meanwhile, remember those crates of spares? After a few years of gathering dust, I decided to see what was there. Christ, there were enough parts to build another bike, and nearly three

engines! But I’d bought another bike (in bits), this time a 1937 Indian Chief 1200. I was intending chopping it, but the shop was so busy I ended up selling it on. Should be a pic somewhere of it after my mate rebuilt it. Somehow I wish I’d kept it.
My “Party Trick” in the shop was to show folk how badly she’d siezed, by standing on the kickstart. It would actually bend! One day, I was doing this, when something inside creaked. I pulled the plugs out and put some penetrating oil down the bores. After a week or two of creaking, it actually turned over, so I tried to start her. Bugger me…she fired up. I could use

her again.
From the workshop to my place was about four miles. There are no baffles in those pipes, and by now she had taken to backfiring, and was down on power, but she still went. Lynne swears she could hear me fire her up, and knew exactly which bend I was on by the amount of backfires as I throttled down!
When I moved back to Yarmouth, I decided to let her rest for a bit. I was living on the top floor of my factory, so, to put her in my living room, we took out a window frame and put her

on a pallet on a huge forklift truck. Just as we got the front wheel through the window, 30ft up, the pallet snapped in two. The lads grabbed the front wheel, found some rope, and tied it to a huge cast-iron radiator. If you look at the picture, they’re laughing their heads off! Good job I was out at the time!!!
After my Nervous Breakdown, she laid outside in the garden (uncovered) for a few years whilst I got better, and the first job I did was to make Bella better too. Full strip down. The only pistons I could get that were remotely similar (the seizure was the topend) were off a Royal Enfield, and the rebore/machining was entrusted to Britain’s top Indian tuner down in Kent, Robin Oakley. She’s now overbored by 20%, has modified Peugeot valves, modified heads and a gas flow job. She wasn’t exactly restored, just tidied, and the bottom pics are how she is today….or was.
I got bored and decided to Chop her. Only now, she’s going RADICAL…See Asian Indian.

FOOTNOTE:
The Indian Motorcycle Company, also known as “Hendee Manufacturing” was formed in about 1901 by George Hendee and Oscar Hedstrom. I have a thirteen year old daughter called Erin. Her middle name is………Hendee. (See Pic on Right)
The Indians have also appeared in Back Street Heroes. Click Here to see the articles

“10 minutes before stripping to go Radical”
Click Here To View New Indian Project