white 1947 chief

[cscott]

thinking of doing my next project all white 47,i read they made these special order, does anyone know about these and where a photo can be found , did a search on-line and didn't find any.also if you have seen one I would like to know your opinion of how you think it looked, thanks chris

[slamiste]

Hi Chris,
I don't know if an all white Chief was available from the factory or not. However, I painted a 1948 Chief Corvette white in the early 1980's. Here's some pictures so you can get an idea what your 47 would look like. Pictures are not so great due to limited space in the room where the bike is stored.

Steve Slaminko

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[pisten-bully]

Steve, I like that white. I saw a white '47 on display at a restaurant one time, and I liked that, too!

Chris, you're right, the 1947 order form shows only Indian Red, DeLuxe Black, and Seafoam Blue as color options, BUT..... in Hatfield's Indian Motorcycle Restoration Guide, page 226 he mentions white as available special order and cites as a reference Indian News, Sept.-Oct 1947, page 10.

Are you thinking white frame, too? (not certain how that would look)

[cscott]

thanks for the pics , helps alot

[cscott]

yes, in hatfiedls book it says frame too..

[PRG]

Howdy Steve,

First Chief was a white 47 bought as stand up basket decades ago from Jerry Greer as abandoned project from customer who was just ready to ride anything. I imagine so after hand crafting exact duplicates of the original front and rear crash bars out of relatively fragile light gauge stainless steel. The motor was hollow. This machine took shape slowly in my shop over a year till a 440 followed by a 441 a mere month later required a serious liquidation sale. This machine now AMCA spec restored in two tone black and white by local enthusiast, I had contemplated all white like some pre war Knuckles and Sport Scouts you see.

[tfburke3]

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Heres a White Chief about 10 years earlier.I think you need the cad wheels and police uniform to pull it off.
Tom

[T. Cotten]

That's what my 334 was supposed to look like, Tom!

But nobody paid me to finish it.

White powdercoating doesn't look so bad with two decades of dust settled into it.

....Cotten

[someozybloke]

Had a look in the Indian News Sept-Oct 1947 and there is no information regarding a special order for white Indian Chiefs.

Anyone have any further information...

[cscott]

does anyone know what color white?

[cscott]

that concerns me, wouldn't want to do a white indian if it didn't exist.......

[Green Indian]

If you do settle on white as the color for your Chief picking out the correct shade of white will be challenging; there are a lot of varieties in the shade. However, as difficult as this part of the restoration can be I find the research fun and challenging.

[D.A.Bagin]

Speaking of the frame matching the rest of the bike color, I noticed on my crusty 'ol 440 that under the flaking black frame paint is seafoam blue like the rest of the bike. Sure is a pain to go round with a mini brush touching up with black all those little blue spots. LOL.

[cscott]

if anyone can find the indian news article that hatfields book mentions sept-oct 1947 page 10 that refers to the special order white paint please let me know, perhaps harfield referenced the wrong issue??

[RichO]

Grace McKean in SoCal has a white Chief. Original or not I do not know.