1948 Prairie Green and Bonnevilles literature

[1950Panhead]

I, who have done my fair share of engines over the last 40 years, have never seen a 1948 Chief with a magneto. It wasn't until the 80's when Eli Sentman found a 48 Bonne Chief that I heard about one.

cdf6333,
I looked through my limited collection of CDH photo and found two BM bonnevilles, many B battery, no M magneto.
Steve has the largest vin photo set in the world, he can provides stats on the B,M,BM split.

[cdf6333]

Interesting, thanks Steve. This is the first I heard about the serif dating.
But there may be more to the Green CDH 5482 48 Chief Bonne story. First, 1948 engine cases are entirely different from the 1947 and earlier cases in a couple easily visible areas. While quite a few 1947 and earlier bikes ( with correct cases) were mag, were any 1948 Chiefs magneto , as opposed to Bonne/mag? Who ever built (?) the pictured #5482 Chief found a right engine case with the mag gear bushings installed. I doubt that they had the right case machined for the bushings whenever this bike was restored. Even the cam cover would have had to be machined for the mag gear bushings, not an easy task.
I, who have done my fair share of engines over the last 40 years, have never seen a 1948 Chief with a magneto. It wasn't until the 80's when Eli Sentman found a 48 Bonne Chief that I heard about one.

[Bill Huth]

Steven, Thanks! I sent you an email. Bill

[Yellow53Chief]

Hi,
1948 Chief engine serial number stamping CDH36XX should have a serial number with an 'H' that has headers and footers. This 'H' would resemble the one seen in CDH5482, but CDH5482 is not a factory stamping. The 'H' in the serial number area of CDH5482 should not have headers and footers. I'm guessing that somebody stamped CDH5482 not knowing what was correct. The change from the fancy 'H' (headers and footers) to the plain 'H' (no headers or footers) happened sometime between CDH4080 and CDH4226. I have attached the incorrect CDH5482, and also two examples of what the 'H' should look like for CDH5482. The two correct factory stamping examples are CDH5429 and CDH5498. For anyone wanting more information, I can be contacted through the PM or through regular email channels at baiste@sgu.edu. Sincerely, Steven Bailey
1948 Chief CDH5482.jpg1948 Chief CDH5429.jpg1948 Chief CDH5498.jpg

[Bill Huth]

This was for sale a few months back, is a BM Prairie Green Chief, CDH 5482 BM. My bike is CDH 36xx B, so not Bonneville. It was repainted 22 years ago before I got it, so I don't know the original color. https://www.flickr.com/photos/275602...7650072991288/

[Yellow53Chief]

Hi,
Unfortunately, I don't have any leads on a sidecar windshield. Maybe somebody reading this thread will lead you to one.

[RonH]

I knew it wasn't a Bonneville, just wishful thinking! You wouldn't have any idea of a sidecar windshield might be anywhere would you?

[Yellow53Chief]

Hi,
Unless your engine is 'BM', it wouldn't have been a Bonneville unit. Prairie Green was available as a standard color after the introductory batch were built. How many later 1948 Chiefs were actually painted Prairie Green isn't known. Green persists as an available color right until the end in 1953, but the name 'Prairie Green' does not appear, as far as I know. It is reasonable to assume that the Green of the later 1950-53 Chiefs was 'Prairie Green'. When trying to match the shade of green for 'Prairie Green', a very close match is the classic version of John Deere green.

[RonH]

My 48's color was originally the Prairie Green. but my numbers were CDH64XX B. so I guess I didn't get a bonneville!

[Yellow53Chief]

Hi,
From my extensive library of engine serial number photographs, I have been able to tell that the serial number area of the 500 mentioned machines is approximately CDH3500 to CDH4000. All of the machines in this range have 'BM' engines, and no other grouping of 500 'BM' machines has been found. This is a rare instance of knowing what color a machine was originally. Machines CDH3500 to CDH3750 (approximately) would have been the ones initially painted Prairie Green. This is also a rare instance of knowing how many Indians were built every day. In order for Indian to produce 500 machines in 10 days, approximately 50 bikes a day would have had to come off of the production line. None of the 500 mentioned machines are known to have been Police machines.

[cdf6333]

Just found this online somewhere, first time I've seen it. Seems that exactly half, 250, the 1948 Bonnevilles were Prairie Green