1937 Indian Chief Project

[miepiechief]

Hi Loflyn71.
Nice photos, it is '37 or older. I suspect Kalle knows more about this than I do .

[SFMCjohn]

Originally Posted by loflyn71

I realize these photos may not bear enough evidence, but could anyone verify this from these photos?

Hi loflyn71,
Thanks for the link to the great vintage photos of your father ... I posted one here, if that's OK ...
-- SFMCjohn

[scootskipper]

Originally Posted by Egholt

Hello

My name is Michael Im from Denmark .

Im building a 1939 Chief interly from new parts .
I know some people dont like this idea , but this build is not a 1939 Indian Chief original .
But an Indian Chief 1939 build 100 % out of new reproduction parts.

Will look like the 1939.

Michael from Denmark

Hi Michael, Your project sounds very interesting. Do you have a blog or a thread?

[kallehof]

Originally Posted by SFMCjohn

Hi loflyn71,
Thanks for the link to the great vintage photos of your father ... I posted one here, if that's OK ...
-- SFMCjohn

Here are the other three.







Thanks for posting these pictures. I have been wondering if the cable from the right side of the handlebars to the magneto went down the right side of the frame or wrapped around the to the left side. Looks like it goes down the right side.

The headlight on a Chief was on the handlebars up to 1937. Then in 1938 and 1939 the headlight was mounted to the fork. So that dates the bike to pre '38. In 1937 the hub and brake drum were attached via lug nuts and the spokes were all attached to the hub.In the first picture the spokes attach to the brake drum which makes the front hub a pre '37. Lastly the shifter was moved form a jockey shift to the tank shift in 1937. Hard to tell from the photos but I don't see the mount for the tank shift (not that it's not there). If there was a picture of the right side of the bike I would be able to tell more. With all this I would say from the parts on the bike in the pictures it is either a 1935 or 1936 Indian Chief. Could it be a 1937 chief? Maybe, someone could have replace the front wheel/hub with an earlier hub and wheel, they are 100% interchangeable.

Kalle Hoffman
San Francisco

[loflyn71]

Thanks for the information and for posting the pictures (As you can tell, I still haven't figured that one out yet). These are the only photos that I have of this bike, so it will remain somewhat of a mystery. On the back of one of the photos, it is dated 1939. Good luck to all on their projects. T

[vtwin]

Kalle, this thread came up in Shiny Things and thought of your thread.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=797880

[SFMCjohn]

Helped Kalle load up the '37 for a trip to the CHP and DMV this morning ...



So, I'd say a running and registered bike is finished ... (I'm told it runs, anyway) ... that makes two basket-case Indian projects finished in the last three or so years for Kalle, pretty remarkable!

There's a few more pics here:
http://caryandjohn.wordpress.com/201...-indian-chief/

see you around the campfire,
-- SFMCjohn

[Nixels]

PROGRESS!!!

[vtwin]

Originally Posted by SFMCjohn

Helped Kalle load up the '37 for a trip to the CHP and DMV this morning ...



So, I'd say a running and registered bike is finished ... (I'm told it runs, anyway) ... that makes two basket-case Indian projects finished in the last three or so years for Kalle, pretty remarkable!

There's a few more pics here:
http://caryandjohn.wordpress.com/201...-indian-chief/

see you around the campfire,
-- SFMCjohn

Congrats! Hope you have better luck at the CHP and DMV than I've have recently.