• BEHIND THE WHEELS
SOMETHING DIFFERENT
AND REMARKABLE
R
egular readers of our monthly feature on classic cars have likely turned to this page and wondered what’s up with this old bicycle with some kind of motor attached. I’ll explain. What you are looking at is the oldest known original, unrestored, running American motorcycle in existence. What’s more, we know its first owner, or, at least, his fascinating tale. W. B. Twiss’ transportation while in college at Dartmouth and graduate school at Harvard was this 1902 Indian Motorcycle – the 14th assembled by the company that preceded Harley Davidson by more than a year. When Mr. Twiss took a position as an English Instructor at Rutgers University, believing he would be frowned upon riding the motorcycle around campus by the conservative faculty there, he transported the Indian to his new home in New Jersey inside a crude crate made from scrap lumber.
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ARLINGTON TODAY • September 2021 • arlingtontoday.com
• By Richard Greene
He stored it in his basement for 61 years until he sold it to a plumber who left it untouched and still in its crate until removed last year, some 111 years after Twiss had put it aside. That removal and uncrating was meticulously accomplished by its current owner Shawn Coady, a secondgeneration classic car collector and motorcycle enthusiast, who realized he had come into possession of an extremely rare artifact of American history. In 1902, Indian sold a modest 143 motorcycles during the early years when automobiles were few and expensive. The $200 Indian was a more attainable mode of personal transportation. By 1913, the company was the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world, producing more than 32,000 annually. Coady explains that the first Indian represents the forefront of motorized transportation in America, predating the first U.S. gas station by four years and Ford’s Model T by seven. >>>
