From Gilroy to North Carolina

This text is excerpted from my Second Bathroom Book of Motorcycle Trivia. (The first Bathroom Book of Motorcycle Triviawas an Amazon best-seller, but let's face it: we all know that when it comes to reading on the john, 'number two' is even more satisfying.)

Over the years, a few English motorcycles have been sold as Indians. And from 2006-’11, the Indian Motorcycle Company was owned by a London-based private equity firm called Stellican Limited.

Stellican bought the brand and assets from the Gilroy company and produced a small number of motorcycles out of a new home in Kings Mountain, NC.

Although some of the transactions were spurious (or do I mean ‘scurrilous’? Maybe both...) Stellican was approximately the 18th company to own the Indian trademark. The company had previously resurrected another iconic American brand, Chris-Craft.

Stellican relaunched Indian in 2009, but sold less than a thousand bikes.

Indian Motorcycle Company of America

That last gasp of the IMCOA period was this '03 Chief.

Gilroy, California was the home of a small manufacturer, the California Motorcycle Company. CMC and several other small companies merged to revive the Indian trademark yet again.

Indian purists thought that selling an Indian with a Harley-clone S&S engine stunk. That was apropos, since Gilroy is the self-proclaimed Garlic Capital of the World.

IMCOA declared bankruptcy in 2003.

1998: Back on the reserve? Maybe not

One of the handful of display bikes built by Eller. The plan was to set up a factory on an Indian reserve.

The next year, Eller Industries announced that it would not only acquire the rights to the trademark from the receiver, but that it would open a factory on a genuine Indian reserve. The company hired famed motorcycle designer James Parker to sketch designs and claims that Roush Industries developed an engine design.

But it was another case of lots’a smoke, but very little fire. Eller Industries was soon served with a restraining order, when it failed to meet the terms of its contract with the receiver.

That paved the way for a federal bankruptcy judge to allow the sale of the trademark to...

1997: Indian hits rock bottom

Phil Zanghi never really tried to resurrect Indian. Instead, he used the money he raised from motorcycle-loving investors and licensing deals to fund a luxurious lifestyle including a Rolls Royce and a Ferrari.

In 1997, a U.S. District Court jury deliberated less than three hours before convicting Zanghi of securities fraud, tax evasion, and money laundering. Although he was up for up to 221 years on all charges, he was sentenced to 7 1/2 years.

Zanghi acted as his own lawyer. "Maybe I'm a con man," he told the jury in his closing arguments. "Maybe I'm a promoter. But I brought the Indian trademark back."

The trademark was disposed of by a bankruptcy receiver.

[Author’s note: I’m not a lawyer, but I have to think that using the phrase “Maybe I’m a con man” was a mistake.]

The 1970s and beyond: Wait, things get even worse for the Indian trademark

Clymer’s widow sold the Indian trademark to her husband’s ex-lawyer, who continued to import bikes from Italy and Taiwan. The lawyer’s company went bankrupt in 1977, and the trademark was claimed by a number of companies ― often at the same time ― for the next 20 years or so.

According to USPTO records, the trademark was sold at least eight times between 1970 and 1992. Some guy named Phil Zanghi seems to have sold it to himself a couple of times in that period. Derbi Motor Corp. of America owned it for one day: August 12, 1983.

In 1992, a new entity called American Indian Motorcycle Co. filed a cancellation petition with the USPTO, alleging that any previous trademarks were invalidated by lack of use and because previous claimants had submitted fraudulent information.

In the mid-‘90s an entrepreneur/promoter named Wayne Baughman also talked a good game, and even built a couple of prototype ‘Century Chiefs’ although he does not appear to have ever had a legitimate claim to the famous trademark.

1963: Floyd Clymer takes Indian on

A man unafraid of challenges. Ten years after this fascinating photo was taken, Clymer acquired what was left of Indian.

Floyd Clymer (who was perhaps the most irrepressible entrepreneur in American motorcycle history) then attached the Indian name to a variety of frankly ghastly minibikes, mostly acquired from Italjet.

Later in the ‘60s, Clymer managed to cobble together a (kind’a) cool machine: The Indian 500 Roadster was basically an Italian sport bike ―  Ceriani fork, Campagnolo twin-leading-shoe front brake, and Borrani rims ― powered by a Velocette 500cc single-cylinder motor.

There was some debate about the legality of Clymer’s claim to the trademark at all, but he was assigned the trademark by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office just before he died.

1950: Brockhouse is the president, but Indian’s headed for the outhouse

This Brockhouse-era Indian-Vincent looks to be a pretty much straight-up Vincent with a U.S. style handlebar, but they also at least flirted with the idea of fitting a Vincent motor in a Chief frame – something a few custom builders tried on their own, later on.

John Brockhouse was a third-generation industrialist from England. He was involved in a tantalizing might-have-been project involving a Vincent Rapide-Indian Chief hybrid, but all he really wanted to do was use Indian’s U.S. distribution network as a way to sell Norton, AJS, and Royal Enfield motorcycles in the U.S.

In 1953, Indian ceased U.S. production. But Brockhouse Engineering acquired the trademark and sold rebadged Royal Enfield models as Indians until 1960. After that the trademark was briefly owned by Associated Motorcycles (AMC) which made Nortons. AMC sold the name, in turn, to Joseph Berliner.

Brockhouse did, however briefly, get access to Indian's dealer network.

1945: Indian gets new ownership (again)

After WWII, the DuPont family sold its controlling interest to a young industrialist named Ralph B. Rogers.

Rogers acquired both Indian and Torque Manufacturing Co. ― a company that had two smaller, vertical-twin models which had been designed by a former Indian employee. Rogers thought those lighter vertical twins would be more popular with returning soldiers who had been exposed to lighter and sportier bikes in Europe.

Decades later, Rogers (who was a dedicated Republican) found himself at odds with Richard Nixon. At the time, Rogers was the chairman of the Public Broadcasting Service. Nixon, who thought PBS was anti-Republican, wanted to cut its funding and force it to drop political commentary. Rogers pushed back and is generally credited with saving PBS.