Peace Pipe

Peace pipe

UP FRONT

David Edwards

OUR LONG NATIONAL NIGHTMARE Appears to be over. I'm not referring to the impeachment of W.J. "Bubba" Clinton, perhaps the only man alive capable of giving fellatio a bad name. No, after 45 homeless years, the last five being hounded by flim-flammers, bamboozlers, bunko artists and other brigands, it looks like Indian is back in business.

How this came about could fill a good-sized book, so we'll cut to the chase. Canadian entrepreneur Murray Smith, fronting for a group of institutional investors, has agreed to pay $17 million for the trademark rights to the Indian motorcycle. Seller is the courtappointed, Colorado-based receivership set up to represent the interests of previously bilked Indian investors. Smith's plan is three-fold: 1) to sell new Indian motorcycles; 2) to expand an already existing line of Indian sportswear; and 3) to capitalize on the current theme restaurant craze by opening a series of Indian Cafes.

In fact, even before the trademark sale was approved, 1999 Indians were being built, Smith having contracted with the California Motorcycle Company, maker of Harley clones, to produce a limited run of skirt-fendered "Chiefs" powered by S&S Big Twin lookalike motors. This would seem like a giant misstep, given the longstanding animus between HarleyDavidson and Indian fans (remember the ditty, If I had a Harley/Id leave it for a thief/And with the insurance/Id buy an Indian Chief or the equally lyrical, You 'll never wear out the Indian Scout/Or its brother the Indian Chief/They're built like rocks to take hard knocks/lt's the Harleys that cause the grief).

Turns out faux Harleys masquerading as faux Indians was an expeditious way to fulfill one of the demands of the court, that the trademark buyer be capable of producing motorcycles, not just T-shirts and baseball caps.

"The engine is a Harley clone, no question," offers Smith. "It looks the same, though performance is much better." Smith goes on to say that 65 of the $25,000 S&S-engined Chiefs have been built so far, out of a scheduled production run of between 200 and 500. "If we wanted, we could sell thousands, but we don't want to be seen as doing a money grab to capitalize on the trademark," he says. "We want to build as few as required to defend the trademark."

Then what?

Smith claims there's a new engine in development, a non-clone that CMC has been working on for 18 months. It's a 100-cubic-inch V-Twin, air cooled and with pushrods, that's supposed to put 90 horsepower to the tarmac. Current plans call for Indians with the new motor to roll off production lines this summer. "The first one's mine," he enthuses.

CMC, by the way, should be no more by the time you read this. Smith and company plan to purchase the Gilroy, California-based outfit, rename it Indian Motorcycle Company and make it their manufacturing headquarters.

Smith is an interesting sort. In his fifties with a string of successful business dealings behind him, he comes across as a straight-shooter, a welcome change from the usual Indian revivalist carpet-baggers. Unlike those swindlers, Smith doesn't scurry away like a cockroach when hard questions are asked. My first conversation with him was when he called-get this!—to apologize. In putting together last month's Roundup lead on an Indian concept bike brought forth by a rival investment group (since blown out by the court), we got wind of the CMC Chief and wanted to run a photo with caption to round out the report. The public-relations hack at CMC demanded to see the story before he would send an 8x10 our way. The conversation came to a phone-slamming stop when I informed the man that Cycle World did not grant prior-review privileges to Honda or Harley-Davidson, and we certainly weren't about to start for CMC.

Smith found out about this shabby treatment through a mutual acquaintance a week later and called straightaway to offer mea culpas and a photograph.

Smith fairly bristles when asked to defend against charges that his company is more interested in merchandising than motorcycles, that these new Chiefs will be mere window dressing in T-shirt emporiums. "This company is not about trinkets and trash," he states firmly. "It's about passion-a passion for motorcycles, a passion for Indian. It's about integrityintegrity in the brand, integrity in our lives." And then this, amazing coming from an avowed capitalist: "Greed is not part of my vocabulary. Money is just a byproduct here."

Besides, he says, "Right now all we're doing is spending money. We're spending way more than we're making." Smith claims his group has already ponied up $9 million setting up the company's infrastructure, buying other trademarks, growing the clothing business and purchasing a new 25,000-square-foot building in Toronto. By the time the $17 million trademark buy-out closes and CMC is acquired, Smith and friends will have dropped a cool $30 million. There's no sign of buyer's remorse, though.

"How often do you get a chance like this?" Smith asks. "It's like having Coca-Cola dropped in your friggin' lap! There was a time when the Indian name meant something to people. We'd like to get that back. The five-year goal is to be a billion-dollar company, with thriving motorcycle sales...I see 250 dealerships, 250 clothing stores and a dozen cafes."

Many observers, like Jerry Greer, top Indian restorer and mover of mailorder parts, remain skeptical about all this. But Greer sees a big difference in the Canadian group's dealings so far. "They haven't lied yet and they're not stealing anybody's money," he says.

Given Indian's sorry recent history, that's a promising start. □