Thats right 19,000 hits to our website in 9 months, or over 2,111 a month I personally believe that it is not only the most up-to-date Indian site in Australia if not the world, very informative, technical, & catering for your idle moments with the YouTube Area. The whole idea of the formation of the site was so there would be no”secret men’s business” so as a result a Parts & Repairer’s Area was added so all people could benefit rather than have a monopoly system that could crop-up, this seems to have worked with a Links area to promote many major suppliers for all types of Indians the benefit is two-fold for them & us. The next thing we are planning is a Members only Area that will have the current quarterly Association magazine in there & at the same time the previous edition of Smoke Signals will be printed in the public area of the site with other things to follow. Thanks for all your support
Looking into the Willy’s Jeep 70th Anniversary Advert ( see link below) brought a very interesting 1943 Jeep autobiography link which I have added to the library in our YouTube area, that got me also searching for what the Germans were doing to the more than 5000 Indians that were captured from the French government after overthrowing their country, the Germans painted them all Wehrmacht Blue & used them throughout the war, interestingly a film was shot of WW11 German Rifleman on maneuvers in France early in 1943 unfortunately all in German but great footage & I would like to think some are C340 Indian Chief’s. Meanwhile check out the new YouTube links yourself
Another member recently asked this as he is the patron of our Association Monthly runs I thought perhaps a history lesson would help, thanks to Wikipedia for the details on the Chief, he was a real person & a fierce warrior not a unusual thing to think that the name is not real. Click on the highlighted link below for his story
Just had a new member mention the 70th Anniversary Jeep advert on TV at the moment (click highlight below), the one where in the beginning the Australian Army is testing the 1942 Army version, then it crosses to the current Chrysler version, the new member mentioned that when the Jeep was first made it was a Willy’s, & Ford made it during the war as well under contract. Got me thinking do old Jeep owners accept the current versions, I bet they do so the relevance to us is the same as Indian & Victory. 1942 was the year Springfield Indians were tested against the the first Willy’s General Purpose (GP) nicknamed Jeep unfortunately for Indian, but great for the war effort the Jeep was far more practical than a motorcycle or a outfit for that matter, the rest is history we all know how it turned out. A Jeep is a Jeep & a Indian is a Indian no matter what era or year.Motorcycling Australia are starting to send out renewal forms for the Roadside breakdown cover it’s now $29.00 for us as affiliate members to their Association, which is a $10 saving over the normal rate this is excellent value sign up now
The History of Indian page on this site when first formulated seemed to me as “Well that’s all that will be done here for awhile” how wrong could I have been, in the last number of weeks I have not only added the Indian Dakota 4 but also the Victory takeover, yesterday John Smith(the Prez) sent me a ton of details & photos on the 1991-1998 stuff that I had little knowledge about, in the next number of weeks I will add this in as well, gives you something to do as its cold in the garage. On a similar subject the YouTube page under Image & Video’s is always good for a couple of hours I have put in a few more lately, any that you find that are appropriate please send the link to me.
Chris Horner has sold his 2003 Chief Vintage to new member Guy Allen,I pulled the lowering kit out of it on Guy’s request as he is 6’4″ (no I don’t know what that is in Japanese) I think Chris is hankering for a Victory -Indian version in 12-18 months (like me) meanwhile the 1947 will keep him riding Indians. John Smith is coming down to Melbourne in the next few days to talk to Polaris -Victory about their future plans on Indian in Australia, so hopefully we have more news about this subject from him in the very near future
For all you long suffering Springfield owners with a Timmerman electric starter we have resolved the problems, which are many the see-sawing is a major issue also misalignment of the case which causes the sprag to misalign badly. The sprag was never designed for any of this & was made to be immersed in oil. The Timmerman standard system does none of this it required a complete rethink. Phillip White, Robert Gosper & your Webmaster have hit a solution that requires some re-machining, but then it is rigid & the new sprags do not rely on you using WD-40 for lubricant every couple of months we are currently testing the prototypes but they are good so please contact either Phillip or myself for more details.
Yesterday I visited Victory Motorcycles Melbourne on my 2002 Gilroy the sales honcho Ant Clark is very enthusiastic about the future of Indian in Australia, but there is about 12-18 months before they will be here do yourself a favour & visit the future home of Indian this showroom is remarkable & would leave a lot of prestige car showrooms gasping, it is really that exceptional & the staff are welcoming & more importantly not pushy. I hope to arrange a group visit in the next few months, this is the first Indian dealership in Elizabeth st Melbourne since the forties,you can be sure the dealerships in Perth & Sydney are equally as impressive so for our interstate members please visit & make yourself known as a IIRA member. Ant was telling me his dream is to eventually ride a handchange Indian so the boy is keen to get right into the whole of it especially linking the old & the new which is what we are all about. Meanwhile 30 brand new 2010-2011 models will be here in September so contact John Smith for details of one of these if you need to purchase this year.
New member Guy Allen recently asked “What are we doing for Oliver Godfrey’s 1911 TT win at the Isle of Man 100 years ago” a good question not many people realize Indian won a TT more or less 1st, 2nd & 3rd place wins, this is a very historic moment in Indian history, & set the ball rolling for Indian in Europe & colonial countries such as Australia. The TT races were THE race to win & gave Indian a status as being more than a huge American motorcycle than won some unknown cross country events in U.S.A or Board (Motodrome) racing which was virtually unknown in Europe at that time. This put Indian well in front of their opposition in sales which continued for the next decade, a single example was Milledge Bros in Melbourne imported 3 shiploads of Indians in one year alone, we have a lot to thank Oliver Godfrey for. Second place winner was another notable in Indian lore, Charles B Franklin designer of the Indian Scout & also the famous 101 Model, lastly in Third place Arthur Moorehouse
1911 TT winners for Indian (click highlight)
Just received the details of the 20th Anniversary Of the Great Race in 2012 the dates are 10th & 11th March 2012, so put this down as a must do event next year. It will be very close to when we return from N.Z so it might pay to rely on your second Indian in case it has’nt returned in time. I have selected some photo’s on last week-end Run they are listed below on the entry below. There is also another Springfield Parts supplier Ken Wilson, listed in Parts & Repairer’s Area he has a lot of select N.O.S parts available to Association members, Ken has been selling parts for over 25 years so he knows what you want.
Yesterday’s Run was a great day we got mixed weather, a reasonable turn-out & we met the CEO of Victory Motorcycles in Australia Peter Harvey. Peter is dead keen on Indian’s & expressed a lot of enthusiasm upon seeing our range at the lunch stop in Bunnyong, he was interested in the IIRA events & rallies & even joined our Association. The good thing is he wants our input, & we look forward to have him attend our various events in the future. The rest of the run went well Stevie’s raffle was one by Peter Kime, Ian Rook, & the Association donated prize won by Rod Leaman. The Crown Hotel where we had lunch, had been advertising us for 2 weeks & half of Bunnyong & Ballarat was there to meet us when we rode in, unfortunately the only bike that used the trailer was Peter Kime’s 1936 as in sheared the dynamo drive sprocket rivets, seems funny that Peter’s new trailer that was used by Chrissy on the back-up vehicle had his own Indian on it! The ride back was fine rain getting cold & at 5-00pm also starting to get cold, on the way back at Anakie we were met by Guy Allen on his 2003 Chief Vintage, the ride through the back-way to Baccus Marsh was fast & furious with your webmaster on the 1944 outfit really nailing it to get home before dark. Many thanks to all those involved especially Steve & his partner Chrissy
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Crazy Horse Rally Coroyong Sept 30/Oct 2 2022