CarBrandLogos archive · Indian Motorcycle · 1927

Indian MotorcycleFour

Bought in from a collapsed rival, and the smoothest American motorcycle of its era.

Photo: Addvisor · CC BY-SA 4.0

The story

A defining chapter in Indian Motorcycle history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Indian Motorcycle Four, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Indian did not design its four-cylinder. William Henderson had built inline fours under his own name and then at Ace, and when Ace collapsed Indian bought the design and tooling in 1927, initially selling the result as the Indian Ace before renaming it the Four from 1928. The engine was a 77 cubic inch inline four mounted longitudinally in the frame, giving the smoothness that no V-twin could approach.

1940 Indian Four 440 · Qflieger · CC BY-SA 3.0

Indian 4 engine at Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum

Design and engineering

It was expensive, heavy and slow to start but effortless once moving, which suited police departments and long-distance touring riders. Indian developed it steadily, improving the frame and lubrication over the years, until an ill-judged experiment for 1936 and 1937 reversed the valve arrangement to exhaust-over-inlet. The theory promised better breathing; the practice produced a machine that cooked its rider's legs and sold badly enough to be reversed within two seasons.

Indian 4 engine at Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum · Chuck Schultz · CC BY-SA 2.0

In production

The 1938 redesign put it right, and the 1940 models received the same deeply skirted fenders as the Chief, producing what is generally regarded as the most handsome American motorcycle of the period. Production ended in 1942 when the factory turned to war work, and the Four never came back.

At a glance