Showing posts with label Indian Chief. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indian Chief. Show all posts

Friday, September 13, 2019

A Royal Enfield Chief and a Spring day in Maryland, 1962

Royal Enfield Indian Chief motorcycle photographed in 1962.
Made by Royal Enfield in England, this Indian Chief was loaded with accessories.
(L.L. Graham Photo from the archives of the REOC UK)
A spanking new looking Royal Enfield Indian Chief, photographed in Maryland in 1962, caught archivist Bob Murdoch's eye.

What were these photos doing in the files of the Royal Enfield Owner's Club, UK?

With them was an envelope from a Kodak Processing Lab, addressed to a midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. There was his name, L.L. Graham, and his address at the enormous dormitory at the academy, and the postmark. But nothing else.

"During my on-going trawl through the REOC archives I found a box of color slides from March, 1962," Bob wrote in an email. "I don't know how these transparencies came to us, but guess that they were donated at some point in the past.

"A bit of Google research suggests that 'MIDN' (Midshipman) L.L. Graham, who is based at Bancroft Hall navy (dormitory) in Annapolis, Maryland may be the proud owner of this very tidy Indian Chief. He's so proud of his new bike that he has used a whole reel of film on this subject.

"I just wonder if any of your blog readers might recognize Mr. Graham, his bike or even his partner?"

Royal Enfield Indian Chief motorcycle photographed in 1962.
Handsome guy, pretty girl and white-wall tires.
(L.L. Graham Photo from archives of the REOC UK)
His partner? One of the photos shows a man and woman with the Chief.

Was the man in the photo Midshipman L.L. Graham? Or was L.L. Graham the photographer? Was the Indian Chief motorcycle even his?

I fully expected that, even if I found the one-time midshipman, it would turn out that the motorcycle was long gone and little remembered, the photos just casual snapshots taken on a pretty Spring day in Maryland.

Boy, was I wrong.

I left messages for a man the Internet seemed to think matched (other L. Grahams have served their country in the Navy, but some too long ago to be a midshipman of the 1960s).

Did I have the right man? And even if I did, would he bother to respond to questions about a 60-year-old roll of film?

The reply from Larry Graham was far better than I'd hoped.

Royal Enfield Indian Chief motorcycle photographed in 1962.
Whoever owned this Royal Enfield Indian Chief shot a whole roll of color slides of it.
(L.L. Graham Photo from the archives of the REOC UK)
"David, wow that photo sparks some memories. Very brief initial response to your questions:

"In 1963 I was a graduating Midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. That photo was of a classmate, Chuck Patterson and his girlfriend on weekend leave at a home in Bethesda Md., just posing for the photo.

"The Enfield Chief was my bike that took me cross country to Texas, then on to Coronado, Calif. for UDT Training (bike in storage, me off to Vietnam).

"Lots happened between 1963 and 1970 with bike in and out of storage as needed. In 1970 bike came out of storage and became the beginning of my collecting Enfields (mostly Chiefs). Ended up with 50 or so, started the Enfield owners club here in the U.S. and eventually (1985 or so) boxed up my whole collection and shipped it to a fellow in England.

"Probably some of my personal papers and photos were in the boxes of manuals, club records, etc. that were tossed in the shipping containers full of accumulated parts.

"Haven't thought about that era in a long time but that Enfield Chief was in the middle of a lot of life and adventure."

Royal Enfield Indian Chief motorcycle photographed in 1962.
Note the Maryland temporary tag.
(L.L. Graham Photo from archives of the REOC UK)
Needless to say, I couldn't let it rest there. I felt privileged to have contacted a man trained in UDT (the Underwater Demolition Team, the "frogman" forerunners of Navy SEALS); someone who'd owned so many Royal Enfields and had even started a club for them in the United States.

And that shiny new Indian Chief in the photos had indeed been his, and important to him. My request for more information brought this:

"Well, maybe a few more comments about motorcycles and the Enfields. The motorcycle industry was in a tough transition around 1960 to 1970. A few used police Harleys were available from the dealers around the country for about $500 but they were hard to keep running. The British were struggling to make inroads with the vertical twins and American open roads were less conducive to the BSAs, Triumphs, etc. and BMW was dependable but not cheap.

"Royal Enfield was sort of a back-room brand, 700cc was more respectful to a young cowboy than the 250cc and 500cc machines and when Indian tried to break back in the market with the 700cc Indian Enfield Chief it was a match to drool over for me.

Royal Enfield Indian Chief motorcycle photographed in 1962.
Black, shiny and only $600; it was a motorcycle to drool over.
(L.L. Graham Photo from archives of the REOC UK)
"Black, shiny, and $600; who needs a girlfriend?

"Only real problem was the head gasket. Every few hundred miles the head gasket between the cylinder and head would start a high pitch squeak and get worse steadily until it was a full blown pop, pop. No problem, actually. One just needed to learn to be a reasonable capable mechanic. They were pretty basic machines.

"After 1970 the Japanese bikes started to take hold and as nostalgia for the Indian Enfield Chief started to set in I made it a challenge to locate and buy every Royal Enfield bike I could find in a barn, storeroom, garage, or hay pile anywhere in the USA.  Usually $50 to $150 each. A couple of closed down dealerships turned up on the northeast coast and lots of original parts came with the packages.

"When the total of complete and partially complete machines totaled about 50 (12 of which were the Chiefs) and the contacts made during the searching grew, I just started a national club sort of like you did your blog and held several Enfield centered rallies in my little home town in Texas.

"After a few years I moved on to other interests, sent all the club stuff to some of the other members who picked up and improved the effort, and sold all of my remaining collection of bikes and parts to a distant club member in England.   

"As a fringe pleasure at some point a young Brit named Tim Elborne found my name through the club, shipped his Enfield Interceptor and set of mechanic tools over to New York and rode across the USA stopping for several weeks here in Texas where there was free food, lodging, and taste of Texas.

"Times have changed, of course, but those were good times in so many ways."

It's an evocative story that helps bring alive an era that sometimes seems to have slipped from memory.

But maybe Larry Graham's greatest gift to memory is that photo made so long ago of a handsome midshipman, a pretty girl and a shiny Royal Enfield Indian Chief.

I'm glad it still speaks to us.

(REOC UK members recall that Kenn Heeley, a club member, bought and imported perhaps eight Chiefs from the U.S. in the 1980s. At least two went to member Les Power, who restored one as a New York Police machine and after his death it went to the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham, England, where it remains in the collection. Another went to member Mark Mumford, who is restoring it.)

Friday, March 17, 2017

Royal Enfield Indian Chief is his legacy from dad

You might like finding a Royal Enfield built Indian Chief in your garage.
What are you leaving for the next generation? Oran Bloodsworth of Oceanside, Calif. inherited an Indian Chief, built by Royal Enfield, from his father. He recently pulled it out of the garage for the first time in 20 years.

He plans to get it running and let his son, now 17, ride it.

"This was the bike my father rode before I was born in 1965. I have never heard it run, but it still turns over," he wrote.

"I hope sometime in the future to get it running for myself and for my son."

Oran's son can look forward to riding this Indian Chief someday.
Warren lost his father years ago, but has fond memories of his dad teaching him to ride a motorcycle; at age seven! His dad watched him crash his little Indian motorbike and didn't rush to help him as the hot exhaust pipe burned his leg.

"I finally got the bike off me and showed him my leg (still have the football shaped scar). He propped the bike against the tree and went into the house. Grandma gave me two Popsicles, one for my leg and one to eat. By the time the second Popsicle was gone I asked my dad if we could ride more.

"And he said 'sure son.'"

Oran has learned from Graham Scarth that his matching-numbers Chief would have been dispatched from the factory in January, 1959.

He posted a YouTube video of the Indian Enfield that provides a good look at the Royal Enfield Indian Chief his son may be riding someday soon.


Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Real officer rode Royal Enfield Indian Chief for ad photo

Officer John Barkman demonstrated the Royal Enfield Indian Chief .
I was delighted when Hans van Heesch of the Netherlands shared a picture of a police officer riding a then new 1960 Royal Enfield Indian Chief. It's obviously an official Indian advertising photo. A different photo of the same officer is familiar from the Indian catalog of the era.

I never dreamed that we would learn the name of the stern looking officer pictured in the photo. Then this email arrived from Sgt. Andrew Fullerton of the Longmeadow, Mass. Police Department:

"Recently I found your article from June 17, 2012 which contained two photographs. One I recognized as an advertisement for the 1960 Indian Chief. A fellow officer had shown me this advertisement which pictured his relative John Barkman, who was an officer with our department from 1951-1974.

Officer Barkman in the well know catalog ad for the Indian Chief.
"Officer Barkman passed away in 1975 but his relative told me how (Officer Barkman) was approached to pose for the advertisement. He was our last motorcycle officer, riding into the mid 1950s.

"Your article also showed a photograph of Officer Barkman given to you by a Hans Van Heesch of the Netherlands. I am guessing that this photo was taken at the same time the advertisement photo was taken but was not used. I recognize the location of the picture, which is in front of our high school, built in 1959. I am very much into preserving our department's history and no one here has seen the photo from Mr. Van Heesch until now."

Royal Enfield models of the late 1950s showed up in the U.S. labelled and sold as Indians. The Chief was the most altered in appearance, perhaps (as its name suggests) for sales to police departments.

Another photo of the same Indian Chief. Note the siren powered by the rear wheel.
It really looked the part. The motor was the 700cc Constellation twin, the biggest engine Royal Enfield offered at the time. Tires were 4.5 inches wide but only 16 inches in diameter. With its heavy fenders and lengthened wheelbase, the Chief had a squat, authoritative look ideal for a police motorcycle.

Officer Barkman had an authoritative look of his own and I guessed (correctly it turns out) that he was not just a model decked out in uniform for a catalog picture. Sgt. Fullerton sent two pictures of Officer Barkman, one of them showing him astride his made-in-the-U.S.A. Indian Chief in the early 1950s.

Longmeadow Patrolman John Barkman on duty in the early 1950s.
It turns out that Officer Barkman wasn't entirely the bulldog he resembles. Said to be a "beloved figure around town," he wore Longmeadow's Badge No. 1.

An avid fisherman, he volunteered his time to the spring fishing derby for children in Longmeadow's Laurel Park. With his death it was renamed The John Barkman Memorial Fishing Derby.

John G. Barkman,  as a patrolman in 1951.
Longmeadow is a suburb of Springfield, Mass., the longtime headquarters of the Indian Motorcycle Manufacturing Co. That famous American company went bankrupt in 1953. Rights to the name went to England's Brockhouse Engineering which, starting in 1955, began marketing Royal Enfield motorcycles in the U.S. rebadged as Indians.

Nearly the whole Royal Enfield line was available as Indians until the arrangement ended in 1960, but none of the other motorcycles were as impressive as the Chief.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Photo of Royal Enfield's Indian Chief police motorcycle

Royal Enfield built the Chief for sale in the U.S. as an Indian motorcycle.
Here's a photograph of one very hard-bitten motorcycle officer riding a 1960 Royal Enfield Indian Chief.

Hans van Heesch of the Netherlands shared the picture with me after I wrote about the 1959 Indian Chief  in New York City Police Department markings he owns.

Indian catalog photo.
The same police officer appears in the Indian catalog photo I used recently in an item about Royal Enfield's big Chief and its role as a police motorcycle.

That catalog picture is often seen, but I had never noticed this view of the other side of the motorcycle (and the officer). Hans said in his email that it was an official Indian company photo and that makes sense, since a version ended up in the catalog.

The motorcycle is magnificent, with all the authority thick tires, extra lights and massive fenders confer.

Is that patchy snow on the ground in the picture? And no windshield!

But it is the officer I keep looking at. Something tells me he's not an actor from Central Casting. For one thing, he's packing a lot of hardware (and some weight of his own) as well.

Authority? You wouldn't argue with this guy.

Or that motorcycle.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Royal Enfield built the Indian Chief for police

The 1960 Royal Enfield built Indian Chief looked great as a police motorcycle.
Why shouldn't Royal Enfield motorcycles serve police departments in the United States, I asked? After all, the federal Park Police protect the monuments in Washington, D.C. on Suzuki motorcycles.

Reader Mark Mumford reminded me that one Royal Enfield model, badged as an Indian, was sold in the U.S. as a police bike.

"This was based on the Chief (which was effectively a single carb Constellation with coil ignition, fat tires, foot boards, single seat, radio and a lot of optional geegaw's!) and was quite widely used, especially by New York Police Department, among others," he wrote.

"There are pictures of one in the UK National Motorcycle Museum; this particular bike was repatriated and rebuilt by the late Les Power who added various features (the toolbox for instance) for his personal taste. The siren is friction driven from the rear wheel and operated by a foot pedal. Les told me he acquired the correct item from a stateside fire truck! It sounds great in use too as I can testify."

1959 Indian Chief by Royal Enfield. In NYPD markings.
Mark found a picture for sale on eBay that shows the motorcycle he has in mind. The round siren is visible just ahead of the rear wheel.

The friction drive itself may be partly visible in the Indian catalog shot of the police model.

Photo from Indian catalog gives an idea how siren worked.
Royal Enfield models of the late 1950s showed up in the U.S. labelled and sold as Indians. The Chief was the most altered in appearance for the American market.

It really looked like an American motorcycle. The tires were 4.5 inches wide. With its heavy fenders, longer wheelbase and wheels 16 inches in diameter, it had the squat, menacing look ideal for a police motorcycle.

The 700cc Royal Enfield Constellation motor gave the Chief a top speed of almost 115 mph and it could cruise above any speed limit.

Click here to see Keith Gaunt's photos of the Indian Chief in police dress at the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham, UK.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Royal Enfield-built Indian Chief packs power, authority

1959 Indian Chief was a Royal Enfield with a difference.
Photos of a 1959 Indian Chief configured in New York Police Department markings popped into my email recently from Hans van Heesch in the Netherlands.

I don't think Hans has been a slave to historical accuracy here. For one thing, note the Minnesota license plate.

Police like a lot of white on motorcycles, for visibility.
The National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham, U.K., has a Royal Enfield-built Indian Chief in NYPD markings, and it is dark like this one but has a lot of white on it, presumably for better visibility at night.

An online source on Indian motorcycles says that New York City police insisted their Indians be painted red, at least in the years when they were made by Indian in Springfield, Mass. instead of by Royal Enfield in Redditch, England. So this might not apply to Indians made by Royal Enfield.

Indian stopped making motorcycles of its own in 1953. Between 1955 and 1960 Royal Enfields were imported to be sold, re-badged as Indians. The Chief was intended to compete for police business in the heavy-weight end of the market.

Smaller, wider tires, stretched wheelbase and heavy fenders transformed the appearance of Royal Enfield's big twin.

Hans describes himself as a rider and collector of Indian motorcycles. He says he often buys them in the United States. 

"I'm going to have to write you a ticket, sir."
Pictures of Hans' machine show the image of power and authority conveyed by these motorcycles.

Somewhere underneath is a British sporting motorcycle.
At a time when most British motorcycles, including Royal Enfield, were sporting machines at heart, the Chief effectively conveyed seriousness.

In any country, the sight of this in the rear view mirror would be heart stopping.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Royal Enfield Super Meteor Chief has
new owner looking for information

A motorcycle called a "Super Meteor Chief" recently showed up for sale in an eBay ad listed on this blog. I didn't know anything about it except that a Super Meteor was a pretty special Royal Enfield twin, and a Chief was a pretty special Indian motorcycle built by Royal Enfield and sold in the United States in the 1950s.

The owner, in New York, seemed to possess documentation of what he had, so I didn't question why an Indian Chief would have "Royal Enfield" on the tank.

The motorcycle disappeared from eBay, but the new owner has now brought it to my attention in an email. Jaak Eijkelenberg of the Netherlands wrote that he had been inspired to seek out an Indian motorcycle by a visit to the museum and workshop of Tony "Indian" Leenes, in Lemmer, the Netherlands.

Leenes' passion is customizing and restoring Indian motorcycles. He builds custom Indians to order; projects can take a year to complete but the goal is getting "that last detail" perfect.

Eijkelenberg wrote:

"My name is Jaak (Jack). I'm 53 and live in the Netherlands, close to the borders of Belgium and Germany. I’m married and we have one daughter. My hobby is the '50s and '60s, so we own a ’62 T-Bird, ’65 Corvair, and a Harley Road King. The house we live in includes jukeboxes from the '50s. I’m lucky because my lovely wife Linda likes these things too.

"A few months ago we drove the Harley to Tony 'Indian' Leenes' museum in the Netherlands. He has restored a Royal Enfield Indian Woodsman. On the way home the bike was still in my mind. Looking again and again at pictures of that Enfield over the next few days I made myself a promise to buy just such a bike.

"The chance to buy one came very quick. I was looking on eBay USA and saw an Enfield that was good for such a project. The owner wrote on eBay:

"'Up for bid is a 1959 Royal Enfield Indian I've owned for 28 years. This bike ran up 'til day I parked it in the garage some 15 years ago. Not running now; did not even try. I do have a full front fender but no correct rear. No gauges but everything on motor, brakes and drive train are there. Title is clear. I have info on the correct dating of this bike: it was a late 1958 early '59 Chief sent to Brockhouse, England, engine number SM9196 and frame number 7550. This bike is one of only eight Super Meteor Chiefs and is the last model number of the batch.'"

The eBay ad even included a photo of documents clearly referring to a Super Meteor Chief, but not laying out what the difference may be between a Super Meteor Chief and any other Chief.

Eijkelenberg, it turns out, has the same sort of question I did about the Super Meteor Chief:

"I would like to see an original picture of what it looked liked from the factory in 1959," he wrote.

Based on what he finds out, he hopes to have Tony Leenes rebuild it for him with a little of the Old School bobber look.

I asked Chris Overton, a close observer of Royal Enfield twins, about the bike. He replied:

"The Enfield logo on the tank is custom painting and as Enfield as the headlight bracket.  Over the last 50 years the identities of many bikes has blurred.  After all, without the tank badges it is hard to tell.  A fellow in Michigan recently bought a Trailblazer that turned out to be a Chief from the serial numbers. I bought an Indian Westerner and found from the Club's records it is an even rarer Enfield Fury."

Can any of you readers provide some guidance?


Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Royal Enfield's Indian Chief looked classic,
but one owner made his look older still

Two fascinating Royal Enfield motorcycles are owned by Don McMahan, of Lino Lakes, Minn. (it's just north of the twin cities).

He was kind enough to share with me the story of his 1967 Royal Enfield Interceptor, stolen from him in the mid-1970s, recovered three years later, and then rebuilt for him by the legendary George Helm.

More about that next time. But first, the story of McMahan's 1959 Royal Enfield built Indian Chief. Looks different, doesn't it? Well, it is.

Royal Enfield twins were being rebadged and sold as Indians in the United States in the 1950s. With the Chief, Royal Enfield went the extra mile, stretching the wheelbase and using smaller diameter wheels to mimic the heavy, fat-tired look the Indian had when it was built in the U.S.

McMahan decided to go farther, using his skill with fiberglass to create a Royal Enfield Indian Chief that really does look like the classic "Big Indians" of the 1930s. He explains:

"George Helm was a dealer in the Chicago area at the time and his version of the story of the creation of the Chief went something like this: The Indian Sales Corp. was using the old Indian dealer network to sell British imports after the manufacture of Indian motorcycles stopped in 1953. The dealers were strung along with promises of new Indians next year, next year and so on.

"By 1955, to quiet the unhappy dealers, Indian Sales Corp. started badging Royal Enfields as Indians, but the dealers still wanted a 'big' bike to sell to compete with Harley in the police market and touring segment. Finally, with much dealer input, the 1959 Chief was created. There were a few left over in 1960 and even though the badging of Enfields as Indians had stopped, some dealers sold the leftovers as 1960 models.

"George's opinion was that there were probably more Chiefs now than there were sold new, since so many people had recreated them with some combination of old parts, like this one.

"It's a bit'sa, put together by a past owner with a lot of original parts and George Helm's advice. I bought it without George's help and he kind of rolled his eyes when I told him what I'd bought. Never admitted to him what I'd paid for it. The constructor had tried to make it original and after some introspection I wasn't happy with that.

"As purchased, you can't see how cobbed together it was and the Matchless tool box never looked right on the Chiefs that had it. Also it doesn't have the correct Chief tank, which is larger; this is a Trailblazer tank.

"Since it was a bit'sa I didn't have any regrets making it into what I wanted (although I am thinking of having the stock saddle redone so I can put the seat rail back on — it has a solid cast plaque that reads 'Indian' facing back that was an accessory created by the Chicago area dealers).

" I've been in fiberglass all my working life, so I provided fiberglass fenders of my own design that I built to suggest more of the look of the '30's Indians (gave the originals to George; hope they found a good home); fiberglass toolbox that fits into the frame curve; and real Indian saddlebags that were with it when I bought it.

"The light bar is a real Royal Enfield accessory on a bracket I built to fit the Chief, and the driving lamps are modern reproductions. It's still a 6-volt system. The handle bars are Yamaha Royal Star touring bars.

" I just couldn't resist the Sparto tail light, but since that's not enough light out back I recessed a reproduction '39 Ford tail light in the fender. 1959 — you have to have shark fin tips!

"The paint is an off-the-rack color, an aqua metallic that reminded me of the '50s and went well (I think) with the cream two-tone. The pattern of the two-tone design is lifted right from Indians of the '30s, as I said. Boy they built some beautiful bikes then

"George didn't have time, or maybe I didn't have the time, when I needed to have this one gone through. As it turned out, it took 10 years after the rebuild to get all the mechanicals sorted out. It doesn't wear my leg out either, running on the magneto — starts with one kick.

"I could go on, and on. Nothing like a Royal Enfield to start a conversation."

Addendum: McMahan had this interesting tidbit to add:

"One thing that I didn't mention before: the Chief's engine and transmission are from a 1961 Constellation (as I said before, it's a bit'sa put together by another fellow) however it is registered and licensed as a 1959 Indian.

"As I remember, George Helm had some original paperwork that allowed him to get it titled as a '59 and provided that and a lot of the pieces in the bike for the guy who originally put it together."

Monday, February 8, 2010

Royal Enfield Chief is a fond memory

Charles Todd's search for a Royal Enfield Indian Chief, mentioned on this blog, apparently inspired "Stefan" in Sweden to send me these pictures of his 1959 Chief.


He even enclosed a video clip so we can hear the 700cc engine run. "Hope you can open the film and listen to the sound coming out from this 50 year old bike; you just have to love it," Stefan writes. I agree.

Stefan sold his Chief in 2008 and says it is now in Great Britain.

The entire motorcycle is terrifically eye catching. Just as nice are the small details. I am particularly taken by the "Police Special" speedometer. Why "special"? No doubt it was especially accurate for clocking speeders.

You can just hear that police officer telling the judge "I had to go 100 to catch him, Your Honor!"

1959 would have been the last full year for the Chief, which was akin to the Royal Enfield Meteor but with a lengthened wheelbase and 16-inch wheels. This gave it the low-slung, chubby-tired look of the American-made Indians of the past, beloved by police departments.

Caught by an officer on one of these things, you may as well have pleaded guilty. It just had so much AUTHORITY.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Found: Royal Enfield Indian Chief

Charles Todd has found his Royal Enfield Indian Chief. He wrote me, in December, asking if I would place a "Wanted" ad on this blog, seeking a Chief, at a reasonable price, that he could have shipped to him in Australia.

As it turned out, he found the motorcycle he wanted right here in my home state, Florida. It is a lovely red 1960 machine. It was advertised on the Walneck's Classic Cycle web site, at an asking price of $7,500.

The contact didn't come through this blog, but putting out the word helped. It was one of those "somebody who knew somebody" connections that so often works out in life.

Congratulations, Charles. Please update us on your experience when the motorcycle reaches you.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Royal Enfield's big Chief looked the part

Royal Enfield motorcycles badged and sold in the United States as Indians in the 1950s were based on the firm's British products. They mostly just took on Indian model names: Tomahawk, Woodsman, Westerner, Lance, Fire Arrow, Hounds Arrow and Trailblazer. But one model, the Chief, was significantly different in appearance. More than the others, it really looked like an American motorcycle.

Like other Royal Enfield Indians, the Chief did without the headlight casquette, giving it a real U.S. style dashboard and separate headlight. The aluminum Indian Chief mascot on the deeply valenced front mudguard identified it as a true Indian.

But the big difference was its squat appearance. On the Chief, the wheelbase was extended and smaller diameter, 16-inch wheels used to provide the long, low look Indians made in America had featured. It had the heavy, menacing, fat tired appearance of a police motorcycle. Those tires were 4.5 inches wide.


The 700cc Royal Enfield Constellation motor gave the Chief the required authority, too; top speed was almost 115 mph and it could cruise at speeds above any posted limit.

A 1960 Chief for sale on eBay will soon go back into slumber unless it finds a buyer.

The seller advises that: "The owner told me that if it doesn't sell he was going to drain all the gas and put it in storage for a few years until the market comes back. He asked me to put a Buy It Now option for $9,500. The reserve is at $8,500.00."

He says the owner "finally got around restoring it about five years ago. I understand that there were about 300 of these built in 1960 and a total of 700 for all the years of production of the Chief model. This bike uses the 700cc Constellation Enfield engine, but the frame is different from all the others by having a longer wheelbase. Everything on the bike works and works well; this is a very easy starter, and a very pleasent riding motorcycle

"The bike has been used and there are a few chips and dings from use. I guess you could just say it's begining to develop some patina."