Indian Motorcycles in Miniature: A guide to collecting scale models of the legendary Indian motorcycle

If there were a survey of 100 people - much as in the television family type quiz shows - and the 100 people were asked to name a famous American motorcycle, probably 85% would say Harley Davidson, 10% would name non American makes, 4% would name a domestic appliance and 1% might say "Indian"The Indian was prior to 1953 when the Factory closed down, one of the most well known makes of motorcycle and was in fact Americas first motorcycle being founded in 1901, well before Harley Davidson in 1903.However as Indian had closed, the Harley Davidson name became the pre-eminent name for American Motorcycles. This was reflected in the model collecting world where Harley Davidson models were widely available anf from many model manufacturers whilst the Indian was the poor relation, with what seemed to be the occasional "lip service" paid to the brand.Some model manufacturers tried to promote the Indian name, but even with this, it was not easy for the Indian enthusiast to find models of their favourite make as makers like Guiloy, Stratford Precision Models etc had gone out of business.I have had a love for the Indian motorcycle since i was a child in the 1960s and have collected all and any scale models of them that I can. Even after all this time, the collection is still small due to their scarceness,. I thought however that if could research who made what model Indian, when it was available or even if it still is it might be a good idea to write a guide to help fellow collectors.This is the results and I hope that you will find it useful.But Indian has a very loyal following and thanks to Polaris its name is being seen again on the streets, where it belongs. Read more