'58 Indian Patrol Car with Royal Enfield Interceptor motor

Once purely a utility vehicle, this 1958 Indian Patrol Car became a Royal Enfield hot rod.

Hatfield Powersports of Phoenix, Ariz. has for sale on eBay a customized 1958 Indian Patrol Car powered by a 1964 Royal Enfield Interceptor motor.

Dubbed "The Royal Rickshaw," this custom tricycle motorcycle was featured in the February, 1973 edition of Custom Chopper magazine.

According to the eBay ad it "is a one-off work of art from Southern California in the early '70s."

"Buy It Now" price is $6,995.

The big Royal Enfield Interceptor motor dominates the look of this custom tricycle. 

The Royal Enfield tricycle comes with the trophies it won, and even the Indian Patrol Car tow hitch that let garages pick-up and return customers' cars. The mechanic would ride the trike to the customer, pick up the car, and tow the trike back to the dealer. After the oil change, lube job, and tune-up, he'd tow the trike back to the customer, deliver the car, and ride back to work.

Patrol Cars were also used by traffic police officers and meter maids.

Hand-shift quadrant puts Neutral all the way back. There is no reverse.

This customized Patrol Car still has its foot throttle and tank shift, but the gearbox is the four-speeds-forward box of the Interceptor instead of the original, which would have had first gear replaced with a reverse gear.

(Overall gearing would have been reduced to compensate for the loss of first gear, making the Patrol Car — originally powered by a 350cc Royal Enfield single — very slow. The 750cc twin-cylinder Interceptor motor must be quite an improvement.)

1964 Royal Enfield Interceptor motor gleams.

The complicated history of this tricycle motorcycle is detailed in the 1973 Custom Chopper article. The magazine explains that from 1955-1960, Royal-Enfield motorcycles from Britain were marketed in the United States, badged as Indian motorcycles and sold through Indian dealerships.

At the time, in Britain, a company named Pashley used Royal Enfield front-ends and motors to build tricycles for business use. One of these hybrids ended up, badged as an Indian Patrol Car, at an Indian dealership in San Diego, Calif.

The Patrol Car in as-found condition.

It didn't sell. Dealer George Beseler eventually began using it as a mini-pick-up truck.

It ended up in the back of the lot, and decay set in. It wasn't sold until Ed Thompson spotted it beneath a pile of junk, and become its first registered owner. Restoration and customization took four years.

As a custom with a highly polished motor, it started winning awards, and it comes with quite a collection of trophies.

Indian had a Patrol Car of its own to compete with the Harley-Davidson Servi-Car.
What was "Completely New" was that now it would be a Royal Enfield at heart.

Period Indian and Pashley ads tell us what the original Indian Patrol Car looked like, but they would  have been very rarely seen in the United States.

The frame number BR015 on this Patrol Car "is a Pashley chassis number," according to Graham Scarth, chairman of the Royal Enfield Owners Club UK.

"Their records do not appear to have survived, so we don't know how many they made."

Royal Enfield enthusiasts will appreciate the "Shell Motors" license plate surround.
Shell was a famous California distributor for Royal Enfield back in the day.

It's not clear to me how practical this custom Patrol Car may be, with three times its original horsepower and no reverse gear (be careful how you park it, and don't plan on any three-point turns in traffic).

But it sure is a looker. Hatfield Powersports can be reached at 480-848-1769. Here's a video of the custom Indian Patrol Car running. Note the operation of the foot throttle.

Looking inside Pashley's Royal Enfield three wheelers

The Pashley-Enfield three wheeler was a Royal Enfield with a massive trunk.

Royal Enfield enthusiast Chris Overton was looking for information to help a fellow member of the Interceptor Yahoo Group recently when he stumbled across something "amazing" on the website of Baxter Cycle in Marne, Iowa.

The something amazing was a June, 1959 parts manual for Pashley-Enfield three-wheelers.

Pashley, of Birmingham, England, built three-wheeled work vehicles based on Royal Enfield motorcycles. Some of these were briefly imported into the United States, and sold by Indian dealers as the Indian "Patrol Car."

They were useful for police departments, meter maids and service stations that could tow them behind a customer's car when returning the car to its owner.

A Royal Enfield 350cc single provided the power but the intriguing detail is the Albion transmission, modified to provide three forward and a reverse gear via a tank shift.

Neutral came between reverse and the forward gears, for safety.

The parts book includes a diagram showing how the transmission went together but I sure can't figure it out. A 14-tooth final drive sprocket is specified. This three-wheeler was not going to set any speed records.

Pashley controls; note car-style locking hand brake on right.

The clutch and front brake levers remain on the handlebars but the accelerator is a floor pedal instead of a twist grip.

In addition to the left-side foot brake pedal there's a car type locking hand brake for the rear wheels — handy to keep the thing from rolling away.

The floor boards are really wide and substantial looking so as to cover the area enclosed by the chassis rails.

The parts book shows a cushy looking coil spring suspension but there's mention of a version with leaf springs that probably was much less sophisticated.

Altogether the Pashley is a fascinating variation on the Royal Enfield motorcycle of the day. But it's interesting, too, to wonder about the economic argument for such a specialized vehicle.

Imagine a service station today that is willing to pick up your car at home, service it and then return it.

And what was the thinking that put service personnel (including chauffeurs in town cars) out exposed to the weather?

I'll muse about that next time I'm out pumping my own gas.

Barn find: Indian three-wheeler powered by Royal Enfield

Royal Enfield engine powers this Indian three-wheeler of the 1950s.

A Royal Enfield powered Indian Patrol Car for sale on eBay in Sobieski, Wis. reminds us how awesome these three-wheeled motorcycles were. Built for work, not play, they were impressive in size but still attractively styled.

"This was my brother's bike," seller Eric Kurowski wrote me. "I thought you would enjoy a pic or two."

"I'm not sure where my brother got it from but he had 45 years of collecting and building. Back in the '70s he dominated the Daytona bike shows with his choppers.

"I enclosed a pic of my Brother Dave 'Kraut' Kurowski on his 1942 Harley Servi-Car in a Wisconsin January Winter! He rode every New year's no matter the weather."

Dave "Kraut" Kurowski on his Harley Davidson Servi-Car.

David H. Kurowski died April 6, 2013 at age 64. His obituary in the Green Bay Press Gazette notes that he "was an avid motorcycle enthusiast known well in the local biker community. He will be remembered for his enjoyment of racing and his mechanical expertise. Kraut won multiple awards for his many bike creations and restorations. He also loved hunting and fishing in the great outdoors. Kraut loved living on the edge with the need for speed."

Here's Eric's description of the bike on eBay:

This Indian has a full box and wide floorboards. Note tank shift.

"It was a barn find. The main rod on the Bullet 350 engine is broken... It's been stored in a barn for years. The tank is cherry. Some typical rust but just enough to make it beautiful...

"Update: Today I rolled it out and took more pictures. First time in sunlight in 15 years. I opened the box and found more parts. Not sure what they are but looks like transmission parts...

"I by some chance found a little piece of aluminum that was in the bottom of the box. At first it looked like junk. Then I put it up to the hole in the crankcase from the rod. Perfect match. Whoever broke the engine was smart enough to save the chip...

"In the box was additional transmission too. I found the original suicide shift as well with the linkages to replace. The wood floor of the box is in perfect shape . There are no rust holes though the body. Just light surface rust. The original lid handles are in the box too."

If the box didn't hold what you wanted to carry, you could strap more on the flat lid.

Whether it's restored or even just reassembled, this Patrol Car will be the only one of its kind at the show. They're very rare, although my best attempts to muddle through the history of the Indian Patrol Cars leaves some questions unanswered.

Typically these have the Royal Enfield 350 single and Albion transmission set up to give three forward speeds and reverse. There's a big handsome tank with the Indian head logo and the hand gearshift. A roomy box on the back carries supplies.

Indian logo fit fine on this Royal Enfield gas tank.

Wide floorboards are sometimes present to add to the appearance of a substantial motor vehicle, not just a motorcycle with two rear wheels.

When Indian stopped making its own motorcycles in the early 1950s, Royal Enfields of all sorts were imported and rebadged to fill the catalog.

Some of the Royal Enfield engined Indian Patrol Cars resemble the British Pashley three-wheelers of the day, which also had Royal Enfield motors. But others resemble the Patrol Cars Indian had been making when it had its own motors.

Tow bar meant one man could deliver a car to a customer.

Indian had offered its own Patrol Car to compete with the similar Harley Davidson Servi-Car. They were handy for police and meter maids, and if a gas station had one the mechanic could tow it behind a repaired automobile to deliver the car to the customer, then ride back to work.

Indian Patrol Car gave meter maid a risky ride

This Indian Patrol Car has an unusual throne like passenger seat.

Equipped with a side seat for a meter maid, a Royal Enfield powered Indian Patrol Car for sale on eBay in Orlando, Fla. is the first of its kind I've seen.

This three-wheeled motorcycle is a survivor from 1959, when Royal Enfield and other British motorcycles were marketed in North America under the Indian brand.

A meter maid could easily chalk tires from here.

Indian had built a "Patrol Car" for police and service station use. When Indian went out of business as a manufacturer its dealers were supplied with a Patrol Car built by Pashley, in England, with the 350cc single-cylinder Royal Enfield motor.

Catalog picture showed the conventional cargo box.

What makes this Orlando Patrol Car so unusual to my eyes is the curious side seat cut into the cargo box at the rear. Other Patrol Cars I've seen in photos don't have the seat.

The seat would be ideal for a riding meter maid who could chalk the tires of cars along the street and return later to write tickets for overtime parking. It would be ideal, too, for collecting coins from parking meters along the street.

Power came from a 350cc Royal Enfield single-cylinder motor.

That said, it doesn't look like a very safe place to sit! I see no sign of even a seat belt.

The seller says this three-wheeler has the three-speeds-and-reverse version of the Albion gearbox, with hand shift, that is typically fitted to these machines.

Hand shift gave three speeds and reverse.

Wanted: Parts to restore 1959 Indian Patrol Car

This 1959 Indian Patrol Car is missing key parts.

Appeals on CraigsList for body parts needed to complete the restoration of a 1959 Indian Patrol Car caught my eye. These rare three wheelers are a fascinating part of Royal Enfield history in the United States.

Based on the 350cc Royal Enfield, the utilitarian looking beasts were built by Pashley in Britain and imported to North America for sale as Indians. A hand shift on the tank gave three forward gears and reverse from the modified Albion transmission. A box between the rear wheels provided plenty of cargo room. Indian hoped they would appeal to police departments and service stations.

"Designed for multiple uses."

The story behind this Indian Patrol Car is especially interesting. Art Bulmann of Chicago shared the story, which explains why he needs the sheet metal.

"With the help of a new friend, Rick LeFauve, I was able to purchase a 1959 Indian/Enfield patrol car. This bike had been purchased new in 1959 by Don Kolad, who resided in the Logan Square area of Chicago.

"It was unfortunate that Don had passed away while in the middle of a total restoration of this bike. At a later date, his lady friend, Lynn, had expressed interest in selling the bike, however she believed it would be of greater value to have someone finish the restoration. I'm not too sure exactly what happened and when, but it goes something like this.

"Approximately two years ago a man, believed to be named Fred, offered to take all of the sheet metal, which included the dash, the tank, the front fender, and the rear box, to be painted. Unfortunately, as of today there is no Fred, his whereabouts, or the whereabouts of the parts.

"I have since rebuilt the wheel cylinders, master cylinder, installed brake shoes, and I am in the midst of getting it fired up, by attaching a small temporary tank. After it is running, my plans are to cover it up and park it until I can find the necessary parts. If, in time, that does not happen, I will modify a Chief tank and build a box and dash. I don't think the front fender should be much of a problem.

"Any help would be appreciated. I can be reached at: 708-534-6693 or 708-314-6280 or at artbulmann@hotmail.com

Video gives a good look at Royal Enfield powered trike

A Royal Enfield engined three-wheeled motorcycle for sale on eBay in Woodville, Texas comes with an interesting "walk-around" video shot by the seller.

The seller says this Indian tricycle was found by his father at a gas station in Louisiana, where it had been used to fetch parts. The video shows what should be the original Indian red paint inside the cargo box.

According to Graham Scarth, chairman of the Royal Enfield Owners Club, the motor is a Royal Enfield Clipper 350. He wrote the seller to ask for frame and motor numbers and found  the engine number (C604) "slotting nicely into my recently created 'missing engines' page on the spreadsheet."

"Whilst the Club owns the motorcycle factory dispatch ledgers, we have nothing on these trikes, which use a 350cc Enfield engine, but were built by Pashley," Graham wrote.

This "Indian Patrol Car" needs complete restoration but, amazingly, the seller says the motor starts. He promises to post a second video of it running, but I have not spotted that yet.

Royal Enfield built Indian Patrol Car looks different

Royal Enfield-built Indian Patrol Car of the 1950s with custom look.

A three-wheeled Royal Enfield-built Indian Patrol Car is for sale on eBay in El Paso, Texas. It's a fine looking machine but its custom details and the seller's lack of information about it means this probably will only add to the lore about these rare machines.

It's obvious from the pictures that this is a Royal Enfield Bullet single-cylinder motorcycle with the Albion four-speed transmission converted to provide three forward speeds and reverse with a tank shifter.

Side view shows it has chain drive.

The frame looks much like those on other Patrol Cars.

But the seller, Barnett Harley-Davidson, knows only that it is blue. The ad also advises that the "previous owner bought it 34 years ago, said it was a factory-built trike. 500cc with .020 over piston and rings. Three-speed, reverse, hand shift. Springer front end is from a WL Harley. Wheel spindles changed to Chevrolet five-lug, for 14-inch rear wheels."


Royal Enfield Bullet motor and Albion transmission are seen.



The machine sports a pick-up style box, wide rear tires and a front tow rod, none of which looks like standard equipment.

It is advertised as a 1951, but Royal Enfields badged as Indians only appeared in the United States from 1955 to 1960.

Precise information may be lacking but it is interesting to look at the photographs in the ad. So many Royal Enfield Indian Patrol Cars appear for sale in rough condition. Here is one that looks great.

It's not original, but it is pretty.

Royal Enfield made the Patrol Car for Indian; Here's a good look at how they did it

1959 Indian Patrol Car, made by Royal Enfield.

A 1959 Royal-Enfield-made Indian Patrol Car is for sale on eBay. These three-wheelers are rare in the United States, at least, and I've not seen this particular motorcycle up for sale before. It's located in Spring Valley, Calif., near San Diego.

This ad is especially interesting because the photos show the frame bare of bodywork, giving us a good look at how these things were put together.

Indian Patrol Car has wide floorboards, hard tail.

I've written about the Indian Patrol Cars before. Made by Royal Enfield and sold in the U.S. badged as Indians, they had three-speed transmissions, with reverse. The gearshift was on the tank.

There is no sign here of any rear suspension whatsoever (oof!) but the floorboards were very wide. the seat, if it had one, would have been a big, comfy sprung saddle.

Two spark plugs, one cylinder.

The motor was a Royal Enfield Bullet 350cc engine, but this one sports dual spark plugs. Is it really a dual-plug head, or is the right-side spark plug just there to close the hole for the decompressor?

Rear axles meet at final drive housing.

My great curiosity is whether the rear wheels had any sort of differential arrangement. The housing for the rear sprocket gives me no clue.

Tank is set up for gearshift.

This motorcycle is said to have good compression and a clear California title. Imagine how difficult it would be to find a gasoline tank set up to take the shift mechanism (unfortunately not included here).

Maybe the eventual buyer of this machine would like to fill us in on his project? I hope so.

Simple toggle switch atop headlight housing.

Rare Indian Patrol Car is a Royal Enfield up front, but the rest is all Indian, he says

"THIS IS NOT A PASHLEY," asserts the eBay ad for a 1959 Indian Patrol Car. "Documented."

Although they are super rare, a number of these fascinating, Royal Enfield based Indian Patrol Cars have come up for sale recently. I've assumed that they were made by Pashley in Great Britain, and shipped to the U.S. for sale as Indians, like the rest of the Royal Enfield line in 1955 to 1959.

I asked the John, the seller who says his Patrol Car is not a Pashley, for details. He replied:

"I have the factory paper work and manual to show it is a Indian Patrol Car with the factory sale brochure, and the title says Indian. I know who ordered it. I am the second owner. The Pashley has a different tank and has box rails."

Certainly there are differences between the Indian Patrol Cars we've seen advertised for sale in the United States and pictures of Pashleys found on the Internet. The Pashley three-wheelers seem to have come in a range of designs.

The Indian Patrol Cars seem to share one design, and it looks less sophisticated than some Pashleys. Is the rear end shown in John's ad just the same Patrol Car frame and box Indian was using before it began rebadging Royal Enfields?

In any case, three speeds and reverse seems to be the standard transmission. John's ad gives us a nice look at the linkage for the tank shift.

Here's some history on Indian Patrol Cars, built in England from Royal Enfield Bullets

Up for sale.

A Royal Enfield based Indian Patrol Car is back on the market.

"Yes, after looking at all of the missing pieces I decided it was too big of a project for me, given that I don't have a machine shop readily accessible," Bill Erickson told me.

The 1959 three-wheeler, built by Pashley in England, powered by a Royal Enfield Bullet motor, and sold in the United States as an Indian, is now in Oswego, Ill. Asking price is $4,500.

The sale prompted Richard McLeish of the UK to offer some information about the history of Indian Patrol Cars. He owns one. His Patrol Car was imported into the United States and made the return trip to the home country.

McLeish's Patrol Car. The spotlights are genuine
period Indian sealed beam accessories.

"I doubt if they were ever expected to get above about 30 mph, just pootle around in town," McLeish writes. "Did you know that these had a three-speed-and-reverse gearbox, with hand change and foot throttle? Makes for interesting driving."

Reverse? But how do you get reverse out of what looks like an ordinary Albion gearbox, I asked.

"The reverse gear is indeed fitted into the basic Bullet four speed gearbox design," he replied. "The gear case was modified, with a bulge on the back wall creating the extra space necessary to incorporate the extra shaft and cog required, and the 'box then effectively had reverse where first used to be; then N-1-2-3.

"I presume that hand change was required to help prevent changing from forward into reverse whilst in motion. This was done by using a gate arrangement bolted to the right-hand side of the tank. The change linkage actually goes via the gear indicator mechanism, nothing is connected to where the foot-change pedal is located on a conventional two-wheeler...."

Does his Patrol Car have a differential? Unclear, McLeish advises.

"The parts book I have shows two different designs of rear axle for Pashleys, and the illustrations for the type on my machine omit the final drive arrangement completely... It certainly drives as if the axle is rigid, I can vouch for that. The steering damper is very necessary!"

McLeish thinks a reference I found on the Internet to a shaft-drive Royal Enfield Pashley is mistaken. There is no mention of shaft drive in the parts book, he writes. (Update: But see Jorge Pullin's My Royal Enfields blog, which has a clipping explaining the shaft-drive system!)

Other elements varied. "The Indian models generally seem to have had the wide forks also used on the Enfield Indian Chief, along with the associated spoked 16-inch front wheel — certainly brochures and advertisements show them thus. Mine, however, has the narrower standard motorcycle forks and 19-inch wheel used on some other Pashleys.... It came from the U.S. like that, and was titled in the U.S. as a 1958, whereas Indian listed them only for 1959. Lucas parts on it are marked 1958, so I can only assume it was a very early version....

"Exactly how many were made is not known, but certainly more than most people seem to think. Fifty-two were reported as going to the Toronto Police; whether these were Pashleys or Indians, I don't know....

"As to survivors... I personally know of 10 extant, though not necessarily complete, and have recorded reports of several more, though I do not know how many of these latter are Indian Patrol Cars, as opposed to Pashley Enfields.

"The Pashley company is still trading, and are renowned in the cycling world. The current management bought the business out from the Pashley family years ago; regrettably, they are unable to help with any information on these old clunkers."

What are the old clunkers worth? McLeish points out that there is a nice, running, 1959 Patrol Car for sale in St. Paul, Minn. Asking price is $20,000. The pictures provided in that ad illustrate the shifting mechanism nicely, and also the unadorned tail of the Indian Patrol Car.

New owner has answers and some questions about his 1959 Indian Patrol Car

The Royal Enfield based Indian Patrol Car offered on eBay recently finally went to Bill Erickson of Oswego, Ill. If anyone out there is an expert on these very rare, 1950s Bullet-engined three-wheelers, he could use some information.

For starters, does the number 1033 on the left crankcase tell him anything useful?

Bill was kind enough to pass along some information on his purchase:

"This patrol car came from a farm in Western Ohio and had been there for quite some time. At one time (probably many years ago) the father and son decided to try and restore it. They took a bunch of parts off of it and then the father died.

"This should be quite a project. I am going to be struggling to figure out where everything goes and which pieces are missing on mine. At this point I am going to see if I can attempt to collect the missing parts and start on a restoration."

Bill noted that I was incorrect when I guessed (based on pictures) that the Patrol Car has no rear suspension and might not have a differential.

"First, there is a bit of suspension on the back — there are two adjustable shock absorbers. See attached pictures:

"Also, there does appear to be a differential on the rear drive as both wheels can spin independently. This should make cornering much easier :)"

If you have any words of wisdom for Bill, email me at david@royalenfields.com and I will pass them along. Or, leave a comment on this post.

Indian Patrol Car for sale on eBay offersrare look at 3-wheeled Royal Enfield

A very rare sight, a 1950s three-wheeled Royal Enfield badged as an Indian Patrol Car, is for sale on eBay in Richmond, Ind.

Perhaps best of all for gawkers like me, the pictures included in the ad really show how this curious machine was built.

The Patrol Car style was popular with police departments in some U.S. cities. The Chicago Police Department had many Harley-Davidson three-wheelers when I was in college there, in the 1970s.

When demonstrators descended on the Democratic Convention in Chicago in 1968, the police famously bounced their three wheelers up onto sidewalks and used them to disperse crowds. They functioned somewhat like (horse) mounted police.

More typically, you'd see an officer stationed at a busy intersection lounging against the motorcycle, everything he needed for directing and diverting traffic carried in the box.

Royal Enfield built motorcycles for Indian only from 1955 to 1959. The Patrol Car had the 346cc Bullet motor with a hand gear change on the right side of the tank. In the pictures, you see where it would have been attached.

As best I can tell from the pictures, there is no rear suspension whatsoever! I don't know if the rear axle provided any differential for going around corners. What a ride this must have been.

This Patrol Car will need a lot of work, and it will always be slow, but you'd never have to worry about where to put the luggage.

The frame of the Indian Patrol Car appears similar but not identical to the three-wheeled Pashley that was sold in England and appears in the publication below. The copy mentions that the Pashley had leaf springs at the rear.

The Pashley also had shaft drive and a car back axle (with differential, for sure). All in all, it was far more sophisticated, but that's still a Royal Enfield Bullet up front.

The Patrol Car on eBay has many of the features typical of the Royal Enfields made for Indian, including the separate headlight and ram's horn handlebars, while the Pashley got the nacelle and a somewhat sleeker appearance.