In 1967, the former West Coast distributor of Indian Motorcycles (Floyd Clymer) bought the rights to the company’s name and tried to bring it back. He initially tried to partner with some German companies to create the new Indian’ but that never got past prototypes. It wasn’t until he partnered with Velocette that he was able to release the Indian Velo 500 to the market. Exact production numbers are unknown, though some sources say that Clymer had sourced 77 Velocette Venom engines and 45 Velocette Thruxton engines, so a maximum of 122 bikes could have been produced. This example is claimed to be NOS, though it’ll clearly need some work if it will run again.
Back when this bike was new, the motor was a 499cc four-stroke single that put out 34 horsepower. Unfortunately, competition from the recently released Honda CB750 and Clymer’s passing in 1970 abruptly ended production. For more information on the Indian Velo story, check out this profile from the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame.
The seller of this example says it’s got the original oil/fuel stickers, and that it’s never been started or even had fuel in it. The motor is said to turn over with “great compression”, and the seller notes that the glass on the gauges is broken. The seller only provides one bad photo which makes it look like the cosmetics have not aged well, but this is a rare example that I still had to share. Find this Velo for sale here on DB Cycles in New York for $11,500.