The fastest Indian

In the r/hand corner of this picture I took of the Hotel is an ex-army Indian motorcycle that I kept in Darwin to run around in, on occasion Len Tuit would like to get away from the business and take a load of freight to Darwin, he would have liked to take his old cattle dog, "Blue" with him but blue couldn't drive, at least not very well, which left me, who never spoke unless spoken to, did what I was told, and just needed food and water, that he felt competent enough to drive the truck while he slept on top of the load as everyone did back then, cheap at two quid a week and tucker, After unloading in Darwin he would attend to a bit of business and as he had tha TAA agency, fly home. In the dry season I would grab the opportunity to take a couple of days off, load my swag and some tucker on the old Indian, ride South about 20 miles to some old military airstrips, hang a right and follow tracks through the bush, or just through the scrub as the Indian was very large and heavy enough to make it's own tracks. There was no fear of getting lost as you just needed to follow sunup and you had to come to the bitumen, never thought of the bike quitting. I would come across army vehicles that had been hidden by soldiers during the war, mostly blitz's or lend-lease Chevies, rusted out beyond use now, the soldiers probably got swept up in civilian life and a long way to come, at evening I would find a clearing, roll my swag out laying a hemp rope around it to keep the snakes from crossing it like I had been told, probably a fib!! Boil the billy, eat a tin of dog and settle down under the clear starlit sky, in the morning I would be awoken by a really loud chorus of birds, led by the kookaburra's, singing their hearts out, it was so still the smoke from the fire went straight up in the clear air, it felt like being the only person on the planet, y'all know how beautiful it is up the top end in the dry season, I wish I still had the Indian! I would load up the truck with drums of fuel as it was half the price to Alice, toodle off down the road enjoying the freedom as any kid would be being in charge of his own truck, happy days!

This is the truck we used, a KS6 with a 5 cylinder gardner, a 5 cylinder engine runs much smoother than a 4 or 6 due to the crank angles, why Mercedes used them in their diesel cars, probably why the truck suited me as my brain never ran on all cylinders!!

Little snippet from the Centralian Advocate in 1948, at this speed the scenery must have just been a blur

Great memories Ron, keep em coming for the benefit of us younger folk.

Thanks for the post ron especially for the photos.

What sort of Indian was it? Just for interest sakes. Looks like a single or was it a twin? Was just going by the curve of the exhaust.

Regards David

Is this it ? I saw it sold in Toowoomba last year for $160 000.

Hey ute, I'm pretty sure it was a one lunger as it was a courier with the minimum of extra's, nothing like the one in the movie "The Fastest indian" good flick, can't believe the price of old bikes now, my bro had an Ariel square four and I hear they are worth gold, I liked the big handle bars, very comfortable to ride on being heavy, petrol was two and sixpence a gallon at the time in Darwin as it came by sea, diesel was cheaper, I don't understand why diesel costs more than petrol in the U.S. but wadda I know. :

Here is the Fastest Indian! At least it is the replica made for the movie!

(click for bigger image)

Thanks for the reply ron, Dad had a MkII Square 4, ex cop bike, bet he wished he still had it too

I was in NZ with Cinema and Theatre Historical Society, just after release of the film. Apparently a lot of the NZ scenes were filmed in Invercargill.
The world premiere was held in the local municipal theatre, now set up for live stage. A special biobox was inserted in the middle of the auditorium, with temporary ventilation ducts.
We did see the film in a different NZ cinema.
It is unfortunate that, in order to sell to a world audience, the plot was doctored to match USA tastes. This one took on as many cliches as it could to sell more tickets: beach bimbos, motorbike gangs who came good, a gay in a VW (wikipedia gives a further three cliches). The cynicism worked: it became the highest-grossing NZ film to date. I don't know if the later semi-arthouse 'Boy' eclipsed it.
See:
www.imdb.com/title/tt0412080
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World's_Fastest_Indian

Forget Hollywood: the basic story still appeals: bush ingenuity helps the underdog make good.

When I was a young teenager, my second cousin (all of 20 at the time?) took me for a spin in his Indian with a sidecar. I haven't the faintest idea re the model, but I regarded it as big, hairy and already vintage. His was immaculate: polished red, with the logo.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor