The Indian Motocycle (sic) Company of Springfield, Massachusetts, which originally operated under the name Hendee Manufacturing Company, was founded in 1898 by George Mallory Hendee. It was one of the many fledgling motorcycle manufacturers in America. Through innovative designs by Carl O Hedström and Charles J Gustafson, the Hendee enterprise was a leader in the first 15 years of its existence. Indian duly became America’s largest manufacturer, its products sold worldwide.
But Indian self-destructed in 1953, leaving Harley-Davidson as the only maker of the quintessential big V-twins, that most American of motorcycles. Since 1999, Indians have been built again by rights holders of the name. In the decades between, several individuals built a number of Indian-labelled motorcycles that, strictly speaking, had nothing to do with Springfield’s original manufacturer.
The Indians that saw the light of day in the late 1960s were the work of Floyd Clymer, a loner who had witnessed the demise of America’s once-thriving motorcycle industry with sorrow. So who was this Floyd Clymer, who used the Indian name without permission, and what did he do to revive the famous brand?
In his day, Joseph Floyd Clymer was a much-discussed figure in the ‘automotive’ industry. Born in 1896, he grew up in Berthoud, a small town in Colorado. His father, Joseph Barnett Clymer, was a doctor there and to visit his patients he bought a single-cylinder Olds, America’s first mass-produced car. At the same time, production of the first motorcycles began. Aged 10, Floyd Clymer first saw a Thomas Auto-Bi from New York. This machine was among the first mass-produced motorcycles.
Clymer was fascinated and intrigued by these ‘horseless vehicles.’ He closely followed the rise of the pioneering brands in both the car and motorcycle industry. In the next few years, hundreds of vehicle manufacturers emerged. Since dealerships did not yet exist, owners were persuaded by the manufacturers to promote their vehicles and act as local dealers.
