The 1953 Indian Chiefmotorcycle , grownup , heavy , bedecked with bodywork , was the great motorcycle on which a proud American company bait into the sunset .
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Though Indian had enjoy a long and plentiful history , fiscal problems beset the company in the early fifties . endeavour at postwar bingle and vertical twins intended to vie with the machines from Europe ultimately prove unsuccessful , and their development had cost the ship’s company dearly .
Despite the trouble , the V - counterpart Chief had see a fair number of update during the postwar long time . Modern telescopic fork replaced the girder front last in 1950 , when the 74 - three-dimensional - inch Little Phoebe - twin was lucubrate to 80 cubic inch .
In 1952 , the front pilot was trimmed to a thinner contour and a cowl was added on top of the fork .
The Chief ’s flathead V - Gemini was view more or less archaic compared toHarley - Davidson’soverhead - valve engine , but the Indian used a more modernignitionsystem .
Whereas Harleys had a single coil that fired both plugs at the same fourth dimension once per revolution ( one plug firing needlessly ) , Indian used an self-propelling - case electrical distributor that discharge each plug only on its cylinder ’s power stroke . This was hardly an consuming advantage , however .
allot to manufactory book , 700 Chiefs were built in 1952 , while only 600 were completed in 1953 . After that , the Chief – and Indian along with it – was relegated to history , leave Harley - Davidson the sole live on American motorcycle manufacturer .
With its massive skirted buffer , locomotor - like torque , and " last - of - the - strain " heritage , the ' 53 Chief is surely one of the most collectible of Indians .
The 1953 Native American Chief bike represents both the crowning achievement and the sorrowful end of a party that gave propagation of motorcyclist some of their warm memories .
See the next page for more great exposure of the collectible 1953 Amerind Chief motorcycle .
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1953 Indian Chief Pictures
Financial suffering , piffling money for development , and competition from European motorcycle doomed Indian , and the 1953 Chief was the last model it produced .
