Superhero’s are always in your face, but Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne,and Wally West (Superman,Batman,Flash) are not, so everyone knows the World’s Fastest Indian as it is now, but it was a meek and mild Scout that was a family outfit before all this John Munro (Burts Son) has sent a lovely photo of the machine in pre-superhero guise with his two elder sisters & his mother on board of it long before when it was the “World’s Slowest Indian”
A couple of years (1978) Mike Hailwood won the I.O.M on the Sports Motorcycles Ducati built by Steve Wynn this was dismantled and over the years at least four are known to exist, a similar thing happened when Hailwood made his comeback in Australia at Winton Raceway in 1976 I was a this meeting & the Manx he rode was Charlie Edwards machine a “double knocker” 500cc. After Hailwood was tragically killed in a Motorway accident in UK the Harwell Club decided to run a Memorial Race, they could have feilded a race with all the so-called claimants that reckoned they had Hailwood”s Manx these ranged from post war plunger rear frame versions up! So we come to Vincent’s out of the 73 Series A pre-war Twins that were built 82 are going, out of the handfull of Black Lightnings built (under 20) around 90 are still going strong the 56 Thruxton Bonneville’s that were built of which one made it to Australia around 200 have still made a presence worldwide, undoubtably 750SS “Green Frame” Ducati’s of which under 200 were made are still all going, we won’t go on now but we have Burt Munroe’s Fastest Indian there is one at Hammer Hardware Invercargill N.Z then there is this other one on the website below plus the ones that were built for the movie, seems to me these days even the Mona Lisa is’nt safe
http://www.barnfinds.com/worlds-fastest-indian/#WlgHl7GQ4fwiWFbW.01
Back in the good old days going somewhere in your car with a motorcycle was as easy as removing your spare wheel, then dropping the rear wheel into the cavity and a couple of ropes and you were off. Running boards are making a comeback on SUV’s but are quite inferior to the days of yore but it would be hard to imagine a new Toyota Landfill with a 2014 Indian strapped on board
Happy New Year, and I hope the resolutions you decided on last week are on track, these are many and varied at this time of year from doing work on the Indian, to loosing a few pounds both of these were on my list last year & strangely enough are still there. The photo above of the woman working on the ACE that I “lifted” from the Indian Club in Prague should give you inspiration as I hate working on motorcycles on the side of the road as most of us do in an emergency. We have plenty on this year with the calendar “chock-a-block” with Rallies, Runs, & Social Events, the first is The Midnight Express Run on 18-19 then the Association Monthly Meeting on 28th hastily followed by the Sunday run on 2nd Feb which gets us up the The Lakes & Craters on 15-16th and the following weekend is the 2nd Gypsy Tour Follow the Murray starting 22nd and finishing in March! This is very heavy going so time to get the spanner”s blazing.
Noel Thornby was one of the first to express interest in a new Indian when they were announced & eagerly placed his deposit down, now most of you will know Noel is a Springfield Indian enthusiast as well with a 1945 Chief & a 741 Scout as well, he was open minded in his selection and realizes this is an ongoing part of Indian’s History.
There is unfortunately groups of people who exist that wont agree with Noel that this is an Indian and would not buy a later model because of the bigotry and would buy another inferior American brand because of what their mate would say or even think, I feel sorry for these people they always say “I’m a individual” but all dress the same and ride in groups on motorcycles that are accepted by their peers more like “I’m a D**khead”
To show the uniformity of our Association a picture of a 1947 Roadmaster, 2003 Chief Vintage, 2014 Chief Vintage, all Indians from different era’s and as we are un-biased all owners of any of these versions are welcome in our Club or for that matter anybody who even likes these versions are welcome to join, “ A Indian is a Indian, end of story”
This is a picture 344 that will be featured in a upcoming article in the next Smoke Signals Magazine out next month, the owner is a regular at all our meetings the the story behind this old warhorse bought for a “tenner” ($10 ) is amusing a good article to start the New Year. This brings me to something that in the past was popular in the Association, telling people how you got into Indian’s, you have seen the pictures of my 1921 Scout on the webpage in the past how about a article on your story no matter how recent we are all interested either email or fax Guy Allen or Phil Pilgrim
Thats a crude way of saying it but I’m pictured with Chris Horner’s new Chief Vintage which he has given to me to Run-in while he is away, the other pictures are of the Big Chief prototype that were recently released with a 23″ front wheel & billet girders, I reckon they should have released this as the Chief Classic instead of whats on the market at the moment this looks like a 1948 Roadmaster, anyway the link to it is below
From 1 January 2014, Victoria will abolish registration labels for all light vehicles, including motorcycles and scooters in a move claimed to save Victorians $19.5 million a year by reducing the red tape burdens; in fact it will significantly INCREASE the aggravation already being experienced by users of the red plate or club permit system.Victoria Police will continue to enforce the law to ensure that a vehicle is registered when it is used on a road. Without registration labels, police and other bodies will use the VicRoads systems to verify the validity and type of vehicle registration based solely on the vehicles licence plate – and this is where the catch 22 comes in for Red Plate vehicles. Red Plate vehicles ARE NOT included in the VicRoads systems that the authorities will be using to validate registration and as such, when checked in that system they will be flagged as unregistered and the police may well issue on the spot fines in excess of $700 for operating an unregistered vehicle. To fight the fine through the courts could cost you thousands of dollars! Did I hear someone say bullshit? Prove it for yourself. You can check any vehicle’s registration by entering the registration plate details online at www.vre.vicroads.vic.gov.au or by calling VicRoads on 13 11 71 . Try it for ANY valid red plate number and see what happens. So in addition to completing and carrying the applicable log book all operators of red plated vehicles are also strongly advised to also carry proof of payment of their registration along with proof that their membership of the associated club is current and valid. Although registration stickers will be no longer issued, there will be no change to the traditional reminders which car owners are used to receiving. VicRoads will continue to send vehicle registration renewals notices around six weeks before registration is due, and a reminder letter will be sent if registration is not paid by the due date.
Ape Hangers forever
What not to do over Xmas –With Xmas upon us, I would like to share a personal experience about drink/driving.
Two days ago I was out for an evening with friends and had several cocktails followed by some rather nice red wine.
Though feeling jolly, I still had the presence of mind to realise that I may have been slightly over the limit. That’s when I did something that I’d never done before – I took a taxi home.
Sure enough on the way home, I saw a police roadside check point, testing for drink/drivers. However, because it was a taxi, they waved it past and I arrived home safely and without incident.
This was really amazing as I had never driven a taxi before, and I don’t even know where I got it from! Now it’s in my garage and I don’t know what to do with it!