1949 Indian 220cc Gold Arrow

Engine no. AD13988

Previewing in Bedford Hills, New York by appointment. Please contact [email protected] for scheduling.

They have been called the motorcycles that put Indian out of business, which really isn't fair. The Arrow 220 single and Scout 440 parallel-twin were fresh designs for a post-WWII world, and in many ways checked all the boxes for what a modern motorcycle should have been – if anything they were ahead of their time. Penned by Indian engineer G. Briggs Weaver, the so-called Dyna-Torque engines with their close-pitch finning, angled pushrod tubes and overhanging cylinder heads were undeniably good-looking. Modular in design, there was even a prototype 880cc version with four of the cylinders all in a row.

Certainly hopes were high at the bikes' rollout for 1949. "The world's most modern motorcycles!" brashly claimed the advertisements, and the spec sheet backed up that assertion. The lightweight, all-alloy engines had overhead valves, a first for Indian. Another departure from the past was a four-speed transmission shifted by foot and a "silky-smooth" clutch operated via a handlebar lever. "These are brand-new engines, so modern in design, so beautifully built, so precisely engineered that they obsolete every motorcycle engine built before", boasted the ad copy.

Likewise, the chassis was up to date, with oil-damped Aerodraulic telescopic forks in place of Indian's venerable girder design – "Built like an aircraft landing gear", explained the ads. It was clear that Indian believed these new models would greatly expand the motorcycle marketplace. "Indian set out to design and build motorcycles so safe and simple to ride, so light in weight and easy to control, that anyone could handle them, even though he or she had never ridden before," readers were told. "Their whole purpose, the whole thinking behind them, is to open up the sport of motorcycling to everyone".

Unfortunately, when the new bikes hit showrooms there were niggly quality-control issues – ignition was faulty, fork seals leaked, primary chains stretched, some bikes left the factory without grease in their wheel bearings. Financially strapped, with millions of dollars plowed into R&D, Indian had rushed the Arrow and Scout into production, and paid the price. And while the problems were all relatively easy to fix, when the British government devalued the pound sterling by 30% in late '49, effectively cutting the purchase price of Triumphs, BSAs, Nortons, etc. by one-third, it spelled the end for the new lightweights, and a few years later for Indian itself.

This example of the rarely seen small Indian is an older restoration of a machine very much trying to look like its bigger brothers. Fitted with a set of studded and tasseled saddle bags and painted teal, this Gold Arrow shows nicely and presents quite well. The recipient of an Antique Motorcycle Club of America Senior award, some age is evident in the paint, especially on the top of the fork. Fresh from long term static display, mechanical recommissioning is recommended prior to active use.