Imagine buying a barn full of motorcycle parts – presumably for a good price, assuming the seller didn’t want to go through the work of sorting it all – and finding a bike like this 1941 Indian Scout here on eBay inside. That’s just what happened for this seller, who is either an excellent story-teller or incredibly lucky. Barn Finds reader Colin M spotted this find, and he’s not alone given the level of bidding already taking place. The bike is currently bid to over $10K with 4 days left on the auction. Said to be very complete with no major rot and many of the original components in place, the seller even found the numbers-matching cases in the parts lot he bought. My favorite part of any Indian motorcycle story is the company’s origins in Springfield, Massachusetts, a town formerly known for world-class manufacturing that is now down on its luck. This bike is an excellent candidate for preserving as a reminder of what this country once made.
Wow! what a great find. I would love to bring this bike back to life.
Every time I see something like this, I wonder where I was, or why something like this doesn’t happen in my part of the country? Nice bike. It would be a great part of my collection but it’s also out of my range too so I’ll just have to dream about it.
Geomechs, I once visited a man who sold high design goods and he opened a box to show me the pottery he got at a low rent city auction, for pittance. I told him he was lucky, and he was agast, this was in December and he told me he had been to over 120 auctions that year looking for something saleable. He wasn’t lucky, he was persistant. If you know midcentury California pottery Natzler and Voulkos were Maseratis and Lancias. In 1981 I quit bidding at $8000 on a Porsche RSK that had front end damage, it sold for $9500. I simply wasn’t sure I could afford the aluminum body work necessary, and a little electrical wire fire.
Hi John. Persistence is definitely the name of the game. Friends of mine who have had a lot of time to go out and visit various swap meets and follow up leads have often ended up with some good buys. For those of us who still work full-time, it’s more difficult. But then, I still have to quote something from my late father: ‘More fortunes are made by being at the right place at the right time, than by planning it.’ I’ll keep attending the events that I can, looking for interesting stuff, and maybe I’ll be at the right place at the right time…
When my brother came back from WWII in 1946 or 7 he bought a brand new Indian. I got to ride on it with him. I was only 6 or 7 yrs old. It was royal blue. But he got tired of having something that the parents of girls would’t let them ride on so he sold it or traded it in on a new Ford.
Nit pickin’, the position light on front fender is after market just sold one on eBay, just sayin’