Wednesday, October 28, 2009

More Indian Oddity goodness.......

In January of '67, Floyd Clymer (http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/hofbiopage.asp?id=145) became aquainted with Friedel Munch of Germany. Munch was the designer and builder of the famous Munch Mammoth - once the largest displacement, and fastest production bike in the world. Munch utilized an 1100CC NSU Prinz inline 4 cylinder to power his Mammoths. Soon after their meeting, Clymer became the sole world-wide distributor of the Munch Mammoth.

Clymer was also one of a handfull of people who were dedicated to bringing back the Indian Motorcycle. Clymer at that time already owned the name "Indian", he just needed a special motorcycle to go with it. Munch and Clymer entered into an agreement to produce a prototype that would tie everything together - the result was the Indian "Super Scout".
Clymer went to Germany in early '67, and he took four Indian greats with him to consult with Munch on the prototype design. Also with Clymer were Frank Christian, Dick Gross, Art Hafer, and Max Bubeck. Each man was a wizard in his own right - Christian was the guru of stroker Scouts and Chiefs, Gross was the designer and tuner on Bobby Hill's 4 cam Sport Scout racer, and Bubeck was the co-builder/rider of the world's fastest unstreamlined Indian "Chout" (an Indian Chief engine in a Scout frame).

Working with this team on the prototype, Munch used stock Scout cylinders, heads, flywheel assembly, a Chief transmission gearset, and had Elecktron in Germany cast up a new inner/outer primary, transmission case, and a new right engine case to utilize four camshafts vs. the original two. The bike was electric start-only, incorporated an alternator charging system, and featured a frame prototyped by Tartarini of Italy, hence the definitely Euro flavor of the whole package. Braking was supplied by large leading shoe brakes, front and rear.

Top speed of the prototype "Super Scout" was a reported 110 mph on it's initial test runs, and was supposed to be a very nice handling bike. The Super Scout was supposedly a big hit when it was unveiled at the Anaheim, Ca Motorcycle Show in late '67, but for some reason, Clymer never went ahead with production on his Super Scouts.

These photos are of the only prototype Super Scout in existence, and it still survives today.

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