special folks in our club

[Tom Lovejoy]

Thought it would be neat to hear about interesting people we've come to know in this hobbie. Heres two I had the luck to meet in so cal. I got a call one time asking if I was the same Lovejoy who used to rebuild Indians in L.A. in the 40's? I said no and thought it must be a joke, but that I did indeed have an Indian. Well he said he had a couple of Indians and was looking for some one to rebuild them. He lived about 20 miles from me so I jumped on my sport scout and rode out to meet him.
When I pulled up he and his wife came out to greet me and inspect my Indian. A nice elderly couple, they invited me into their house and much to my suprise - there in the front room under a sheet were two Indian chiefs from the late 40's!! nethier in running condition, but just has he had bought them decades ago, in the front room!! Sadley he passed away and never got them done, hopefully his son will - to the best of my knowlegde, those two chiefs are still in the front room :-)
The next guy I met while trying to assist a guy from the Netherlands, who was looking for parts for his Henderson. He ask me if I could go check with a Henderson man here in Costa Mesa. The fact a guy from Europe was asking my to go check for parts right he in so cal cracked me up and I decided I had to try it. I called the guy and arranged to meet him. When I got there he was a nice elderly guy, he to came out to greet me. His house looked like nothing special and I saw nothing motorcycle related anywhere. But as we went into his garage a 3 or 4 car garage it was full of Henderson and Excelsoir parts all the way back to 1912, all seperated by part numbers and in very good order, maybe 5 baskit case machines - unbelievable! I found him quite interesting - he did not have a running machine and has not in maybe 30 years. Turns out he had a mighty worn Henderson KJ in high school just has the war broke out, well that KJ made one heck of an impression because he has been saving Henderson parts and bikes all these years. Along the way he has helped many a Hnderson owner bring his machine back to life - he is an encyclopedia on the machines and quite a neat guy. I often wondered how these old machines could have survived all this time. Its because of people like these who were collecting long before they were of much of any value - those special folks in our club. Hope this sturs up some neat tails of others ment through our hobbie, Tom.

[exeric]

Everyone I know is a collector but the most unusual collector I ever met was a man named Spook. I'm sure our Ohio members must know about Spook.

I worked with a fellow here in Florida who was from the Dayton area. He knew I was crazy about old bikes and said I had to go to Spook's motorcycle junk yard because it catered to Harleys and Indians and there were numerous school buses full of parts parked about the yard. My friend hated Florida and moved back to Ohio so I made arrangements to pay him a visit. This was about 1981 and I had already been a many a wild goose chase for old motorcycles. All the way up to Ohio I had two visions. One was a vision of a junk yard full of Honda Dreams and one Harley Topper. The other was of motorcycle heaven filled with early Hendersons, strap tank Harleys, and camel back Indians. I met my friend and we made the trek to Spook's. It was way out in the middle of nowhere and I never would have found that place on my own. Like most visions, the reality was somewhere between heaven and hell, depending on your concept of those states of mind. Indeed there were school buses filled with Harley motors and transmissions, but those were off limits. Initially I didn't see any American bikes and was getting pretty disappointed but Spook's grandson or nephew must have felt sorry for me because he took me into a building that had a few really beat-up Harleys and Indians on display. It became most apparent that there were no bargains to be found here and if there was any good stuff it was in those school buses or in another building. I pleaded for an audience with the man himself and again his young relative must have felt sorry for me because I was soon taken to Spook's digs. Spook was a very skinny old man, quite dirty, and mean looking. His nephew pleaded on my behalf saying that I had driven all the way from Florida to see his collection. As soon as he heard the word Florida old Spook lit up. He got real animated and started telling this story about his visit to Florida many years ago. Basically, he wanted to get a coconut while in Florida but when he found a coconut palm, it was populated with monkeys who didn't want him to have any of their coconuts and a battle ensued. I don't remember the outcome of this story because I had come to the conclusion that Spook was nuts. Many more weird stories followed, I didn't get to see the motherload, and the only part I got out of him was a tool box for a Harley 45. The real irony is, I have never owned a Harley 45.

[bobdo]

I have to tell the story of a local gent in Ohio.
He made quite an impression on me in my youth as I tried to compile enough parts from swap meets to get a Knuckle running. My older brother had a bike shop & we had a lot of good times as people would tend to hang out there. This gentleman had an Indian dealership years ago & had the contents stuffed in a warehouse. I've no idea what happened to it since he has passed away. He was a sight to see. He rode a white & chrome Chief with white fringed saddle & bags. He wore all white clothing complete with the Indian logo in red across his chest hat & the gauntlet gloves, what a sight. I can't tell you how many times I'd about run off the road watching him ride by. He used to like coming into my brothers shop & give us s_ _t, for riding Harleys. He said once he bought out a Harley dealership because they had a few Indians, he took 8 dump truck loads of Harleys & parts to the dump & buried them. After his story, he just gave us a little grin & walked out, leaving us jaw dropped & wondering how much digging it would take.

[kunzog]

In the early 70's I lived in Western N.Y. Just across the border in Warren Pa. a fellow named Holly Scandreth had a MC shop specializing in HD's and Indians. I had little knowledge of those brands back then and little cash either. A year or so after I first visited his shop, he bought out a collection of Indians, about 12 or so. Complete Chiefs selling for $850. and Scouts selling for $650. or less. Of course I didnt have that kind of money so I waited a while for the price to go down. Next time I visited the shop all the Indians were gone, sold to someone in California. In the same town I came across a guy that had for sale two Indian Hill Climbers sitting on the original trailer that was used in the 50's along with extra wheels, sprockets etc. The owner said he couldnt get them started as they were set up to run alcohol and he didnt know the fuel mix. Price on the pair $1200. Again I didnt known much about Indians then, but I am guessing one was a Scout and the other a Chief.