WW2 American Motorcycle Desert Warfare Prototypes

[rhmc24]

Before WW2 U.S. gov't had Harley & Indian make about 1000 each special motorcycles for desert operation. Both had shaft drives, hand clutch, foot shift & 45 CID engines, Harley flat opposed twin, Indian 90 degree V twin. They proved too heavy & otherwise unserviceable & were sold surplus in 1944 for about $450 for a new one in its overseas shipping crate, complete with leather saddlebags, info manuals & parts kit. Photos Harley top, Indian below --


Coming back late 1944 into San Francisco, I needed transportation & the Harleys I saw first were pretty beat & Indians mostly new. I bought an Indian that I rode to Oklahhoma & back --


Me In Oklahoma --

Riding my shaft drive Indian back from OK to San Francisco I overnighted at Salt Lake City. Next morning I stopped in the Indian dealership for show & tell about my kind of Indian they'd never heard of. Noticed I hadn't buckled my saddle bag, looked in --- thunderstruck -- a .41 Remington derringer was missing, probably bounced out at a rough pavement spot. Astride again back to the probable place & there it was in the middle of the street, not hit by folks cars going to work. Gravelly surface left no marks on the old gun ---->

 

[THE PILGRIM]

After we finally got deployed, We had a bunch of Air Bases in England.
The bases were so close that the airplane spare parts were central located.
So one dark night my then young Uncle was making a parts run on a Motorcycle using blackout lights.
He hit a piece of debris and crashed the motor.
It was one of the Military motorcycles, but I don't know which one.
I do know that after that he used a Jeep.

 

[jag312]

I think I'd rather have the Indian, but with the Harley's Thompson.

 

[da gimp]

nice pix on the bikes sir, thanks for posting them..

 

[vonn]

Good story! Don't know if the military has any bikes now but it seems like they would be helpful in the sandbox.

 

[walkin jack]

Great post. I never knew that any motorcycles were shaft driven that far back. Here's my 1985 Honda V-65 Magna. 1100cc and shaft driven. All my other bikes were chain driven and the difference is huge. Not sure the shaft drive is what makes all the difference but this one seemed to be a lot faster and more responsive to the throttle.

And I didn't miss having to stop on a ride just to adjust the chain.

I believe I heard that you loose about 8 to 10% of your horse power with a shaft as opposed to a chain but I'm not sure I believe that. Even if it's true that Magna was plenty fast for me.

 

[loknload]

My dad had one fresh out of the crate but it wasn't a shaft drive. It supposedly sat somewhere in Jersey in the crate never shipped, never opened. Since he always wanted one of these he traded a 48 Indian he had restored for it.
Got it, out of the crate, freshened everything up, worked the engine, there was 0 miles on the odometer. Put in a new battery and if fired right up!
He just sold that about 2 yrs. ago, never rode it and it,still had 0 miles on it.
Had fully dressed as it was ready for the war back in 1944.
My dad is 87 years old and still rides a trike!