It has been reported that Indian produced about 33,000 military motorcycles during WWII. Listed here on eBay is this 1941 Military Indian 741 (as per the seller) with a BIN of $12K.
According to the seller, this bike has been sitting for 35 years. The carburetor and points were cleaned and the 500cc engine runs. The owner reports there are 28,110 miles on the bike.
The rear tire is flat, the wrong generator is on the bike, the seat needs to be recovered and the throttle, spark and front brake cables need to be changed.
Some other details the buyer may wish to repair and/or source is the connector at the carburetor to the oil bath air cleaner is missing along with the rubber tube. The seller says that this project is basically a “really good start to a restoration or just take care of the immediate needs and ride it.” Will this 1941 Indian be ready to hit the road in 2016? What do you think?
Motor-on,
Robert
That would be something for a war reinactor , or someone that rode one in the war, or whose dad may have ridden one. Good luck on that price as far as I am concerned.
Nice bike! I sure wouldn’t turn something like this down if I could afford it. I’d have to get used to left hand throttle and RH spark advance. I had an H-D trike some years ago that ran that setup; gave you some fun trying to start the engine while on full advance. If I was to get back into bikes I’d have to learn to start it with my left foot though. My right knee got injured some years ago when the kickstarter of my Harley free-wheeled and I tried to drive that foot pad into the pavement. I’m paying for it today…
The Holy Grail Indian from WWII remains the 841.
I am pretty sure i know the seller, a Regular up at the AMCA regional meet (Evergreen Chapter) held up in Tenino Washington. If the same guy he runs into a lot of early american stuff. My buddy last year bought a pretty nice military HD 45 from him and we shipped it to Scotland. We have a very similar ww2 indian in our museum here in Oregon, not for sale though, but people really get a kick out of checking it out or taking pictures. I hired a really cute girl/model a couple years ago to help with our bike show and swap meet. She dressed up in 1940s style and pretty sure I have a picture of her with the Indian if you guys want to see it. She was a big hit, and everyone wanted her to pose with their cars or bikes. We put her on the cover of one of our newsletters too.
About damn time we saw some cool motorcycles on here. Merry Xmas. Krampus Doug.
Hi Doug, I vote yes for the photo of the chick!
If it has a side car & was a few grand cheaper I’d be all over it. The seller, I bet, is trying to cash in on the hype of the new bikes from Indian.
So it’s not the World’s Fastest Indian . . .
definitely need more American made motorcycles on this page. just sayin
2 years ago I discovered a large hoard of mechanical stuff, over 15,000 sq ft of barns. I grabbed it all, and the first truckload I brought out was 4, yes 4, WW2 Indian engine/gearbox assemblies, still in the original shipping crates marked Indian Motorcycle Co, Springfield Mass. Sorry guys, Have already sold them.
I would like to see the Indian bike and the girl.