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 FL hydraulically damped telescopic forks, replacing the leading link spring suspension of the time. These forks were standard on all big twin models for 1949, including the E, EL, F, and FL. Harley-Davidson offered the spring suspension units on these models and recommended their use on sidecar combinations, because the hydraulic forks did not have enough trail to allow the combination to be stable enough for safe operation. During their debut model year of 1949, Harley-Davidson referred to their new suspension systems as the "hydraulic front ends". Harley-Davidson's marketing department promoted the new suspension systems by renaming the big twin models