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 KR the new engine to save the company from its demise by 1953. Harley-Davidson chose to play to their own strengths, creating a pushrod OHV V-twin engine in 1936 retaining separate transmission, and the new, for Harley-Davidson, unit construction, introduced on the 1952 Model K (still side-valve). "Cycle World" road tested a 1963 KRTT (or KR-TT) alongside a Harley-Davidson Sprint TT racer. They recorded a top speed of , and acceleration of 5.8 seconds. The time was 14.1 seconds at . In 1956, every Class C race was won by a Harley-Davidson KR. From 1955 through 1969, 12 of the 15