Indian Motocycle Manufacturing Company color options in 1934. Models of that era had Indian's famous war bonnet logo on the gas tank. Indian's huge Springfield factory was known as the Wigwam, and native American imagery was much used in advertising. In 1940, Indian sold nearly as many motorcycles as its major rival, Harley-Davidson. During this time, Indian also manufactured other products such as aircraft engines, bicycles, boat motors and air conditioners. The Indian Scout was built from 1920 through 1949. It rivaled the Chief as Indian's most important model. The Scout was introduced for 1920. Designed by Charles B. Franklin, the Scout had its
Harley-Davidson XA Harley-Davidson XA The Harley-Davidson XA (Experimental Army) was a flat-twin, shaft drive motorcycle made by Harley-Davidson for the US Army during World War II. During WWII, the U.S. Army asked Harley-Davidson to design a specification of a motorcycle much like the BMWs used by German forces, with shaft drive, a boxer engine, and several other features that made the BMWs exceptionally reliable and low-maintenance machines. Harley was already producing the WLA, based on its traditional 45-degree V-twin but the army specifically wanted the one feature that the WLA didn’t have: shaft drive. So the company produced the XA, whose engine