Virtual Indian - 2003 Christmas Special Issue

Christmas 2003 Garage Raid

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A FEW SAN FRANCISCO TREATS

(RICE-FREE)*

By Red Fred

I guess it all started when I saw a guy on a crotch rocket get whacked by a red-light runner. I was very interested in going fast then. Kawi 900s were the norm, and the 1000s were just coming out. This guy was on an RD. All fast Jap stuff. We were hanging out at my motorcycle buddy’s place when it happened. My motorcycle buddy’s big brother had a vintage bike biz, and he rode Vincents. He often had a friend visiting with a '48 Chief, all gaudied up. After that wreck, I figured it was putting for me, none of this go-fast nonsense.

I dreamed and fantasized about bikes (Pops said that the day I brought a bike home was the day I moved), playing with hot-rod cars and blasting other people’s bikes (or bikes that I kept at other people’s places), until I bought my 1,600-original-mile '47 Chief from a little old lady. It was her late husband’s; he restored Indians as a hobby. I brought it home, and Pops couldn't believe it.

I was out of the house in a short time, after T-boning a car and totaling it while I blasted through a red, snapping my forks off just under the headlight and depositing them a block away. Put the engine in the frame sideways, pulling out one of the down tubes. I busted my pelvis and lost my glasses. The headlight lens was intact!

My goal was to get the bike back together while still in a cast. When the bike had been running, I spent most of my time watching the weird girder forks go up and down. Now I wanted one of those cool telescopic jobs. Couldn't find any out West, so I opted for a '49 Glide set. The bike really worked well with this set-up. So now I'm kicked out, living in an animal house with two other creeps. It's one thing to have one animal eating your ice cream, and the other borrowing your tools, but to have the threat of a landlord ready to axe you because he doesn't understand the hot-rod lifestyle and bikes upstairs in the house was too much. This motivated me to buy a house.

So here's the upstairs portion of the joint. There used to be more stuff, including a room for just rigid Chiefs! But “she who must be obeyed” entered my life, and I had to make room. It's OK, though, I filled up her house with my junk when she moved in with me!

I hope this is a little more entertaining than just a garage full of hardware.

Thanks to fellow VI lister Bob Kelley for his patience in editing, pasting and patching my illiterate drivel into something more readable.

Merry Motoring, R.F.

Here we are on a slight hill. All the better for bump-starting, or coasting in during the middle of the night so as not to wake the neighbors.

Just had to have the place when I saw the address!

British phone box for UPS, fierce guard griffins etched into door glass.

The porch light.

Kitchen window.

Assembly finally begins on my attempt at a perfectly correct '47 Chief. Nothing beats a drink in one hand, warmth from the fireplace, freshly plated, painted and machined parts in front of you, and the ol' bag handing you brand-new tools so as not to get any cad-plated bolts dirty!

This is the Seafoam Blue paint job for my '47 Chief. I got tired of having all my bikes "fred-ized," so I decided to build one as correct as possible. This was the only place to keep the paint job out of harm's way. This bike has real Indian tires, standard bore, NOS tranny guts, NOS front fender light, and hardly any repro stuff (just the fender trim so far). I just started assembly after waiting five years for the paint. Why are ALL painters like this?

The "after-dinner project," the '47 Chief, in the living room.

Another view of the '47 Chief.

My H-D flywheeled, early sportscout cylindered, return oiled 101.

The 101 in the garage.

Note jumper cables, as I'm still dialing it in. I used the hogged-out magneto as a timer to fire a dual-shot coil.

What living room is complete without a Lycoming Cord V-8? Original-paint Indian toolboxes make great hiding places for knickknacks.

For those warm summer evenings, turn on the Heath Henderson fan in the living room.

[click blue links in text for more info]

The fan, side view.

'37 Police Sport 4our; this bike was unearthed! It was a Stockton, Calif.,
cop bike. It's probably my favorite. The engine for it is currently in my barn-fresh, little old lady '37 4our. Acting as the test bed so I don't scratch this beauty. I have most of the cop stuff, including a uniform and exempt plate. A radio seems to be the hardest thing to obtain.

Here's a worm's eye view of the '37 cop bike. Or the view that some guests get when they stay overnight. And up higher on the wall - all this time, I thought they were talking about the hospitality when they looked up and said, "Tanks a lot!"

'38 4our; rescued from a scrap heap in Louisiana. Cost $400! Standard bore, very low mileage. Great story goes with this bike. Was found with the rim completely corroded off, just little patches of it at the end of some mangled spokes. But the inner tube was still pliable and intact! I'm saving this one for when I get more room, more patience, more time, and more refined.

Original-paint '16 "Model K" featherweight. I only know of about six of these things. They are two-strokes, three speeds, with the cartridge forks. This one hangs over the command center at my world headquarters in SF. I wonder what it sounds like?

Dumplin & Manhattans.

It's all there 'cept the chains, plug wire, and chain guards. I think I would rather trade this for a '14 twin. Anyone game? That's a real Indiandress shirt, with Indian tie and clip in the background. Pin-up calender is from Hap Jones' Indian dealership here in SF, from 1945.

The "World HQ."

Here we have an Indian Arrow boat motor. They were manufactured over 12 months between 1930 and 1931. There were two models during this time. This example is a later one, depicted by the tank, which should have a decal, as opposed to the earlier boxy tank that had a brass plaque riveted to it. I have a NOS decal, and someone made a run of repros years ago! I don't think Indian actually made these, but the finned exhaust sure is cool. I once saw a factory display stand for the outboard. It was cast iron, with the Indian script on it. It was actually way cooler than the motor, cost a lot more also!!!!!!

Here's a lousy attempt at hiding a motor.

Project corner.

Here's the only non-Indian I have. It's a '46 Scott Flying Squirrel; 600cc, water cooled, two-stroke, with dual front drums. The sweater thrown on the sofa is from the SFMC, the San Francisco Motorcycle Club, founded in 1904 by C.C. Hopkins, the western Indian distributor in the 0's and teens.

Perhaps we can go into the interior design business?

Well, the Indian oil cans, comb, rug, dealer decal on medicine cabinet, and array of fishing reels (one with the string into the fish bowl) wasn't enough. So when I busted this mirror frame, I just had to do something! Note "Indian" script at top.

Here I am in the room where most of the Manhattans are made. That's a '27 Wedgewood oven (same year as the house). Great for heating up tranny cases to get the bearings out, or annealing copper head gaskets!

Here's a '25 wedge-tank Prince in the bedroom. Makes a great coat hanger! This was the first year of the Prince (essentially a blatant copy of many lightweight European designs). The motor is done for this; that's just a dummy cylinder taking up the space for now. H-D 45 rod and piston had the same measurements as the stock junk, but with the pop-up Bonn effect in the head. So we hogged out the head. I still need a few odds and ends for this. It has a weird, one-piece, internal expanding brake shoe supposedly.

Note the mural painted on the neighbors' wall. They pissed me off when they painted their house a color I didn't like, so I snuck up and did the mural. All hell broke loose when they discovered it, but I'm the one who has to look at it. Just out of the photo is an Indian dealer sign. When the neighbors get too loud, I fire it up. Lights up the whole block!!!

Also by Red Fred in the VI back issues:

Rocky's Antique Parts

Death Valley Run

*Puzzled by the headline? It's a play on an old TV commercial that overseas readers might not know: "Rice-a-Roni - the San Francisco treat!" (with film footage of a cable car on a steep slope). And what about the racer RF poses on on the index page? Well, it is a LSR Chout (Chief engine in a Scout frame) project which I hope we can read more about in a future issue. Stay tuned. Moen.

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