1936 Indian Factory Hillclimber - Burt Boyd won 1936 Championship
This motorcycle is an unrestored, original paint, 1936 Indian Factory Hillclimber, serial number 4. It won the 1936 AMA National Hillclimb Championship, ridden by Burt Boyd of Williamsport, Pennsylvania. This is a unique machine with overhead intake valves, flat head exhaust valves, a barrel alcohol carburetor with a pressurized alcohol fuel system. In my entire life, growing up in the Indian world, I have not seen another one exactly like this!!! The originality of this machine is outstanding! Especially the fact that nothing has been updated or restored through the years, like most machines that you see. Even the front fork is a factory competition fork with the front tubes close to the same size as the rear tubes, not like the civilian forks that have front tubes that are so much smaller. Also, I've seen very few of the factory hillclimb shift levers that were made for the Sport Scout hillclimbers. It is a solid cast lever that goes on the transmission shaft, comes up over top of the motor mount plate and out with a ball on the end - All One Piece! Most of the professional hillclimbers only used high gear or third gear, that's why they had such a big rear sprocket on the rear wheel.
This is an Indian Factory built machine. When you look at this machine, you can tell the factory took an earlier frame and modified it for the 1936 Sport Scout motor. Another interesting item, the motor number is not on the front number boss on the crankcase, they have a breather cut into that section and the numbers are on the rear number boss. One thing that isn't factory....but it couldn't be any cooler.....sometime or the other, they blew the rear exhaust lifter out of the case, so the way they fixed it, is with a section of an original Indian motor oil can. The can that was used had 5 colors on the can, Indian used this version of the can from approximately 1938 to 1945. Another fact - Hillclimb motors weren't run for long hours at a time, they were warmed up, went up over the hill taking roughly 6 to 20 seconds and then shut off, so nobody cared if it spritzed a little oil.
Any question - - feel free to ask!
Robin Markey
Bob's Indian Sales & Service LLC
Etters Pennsylvania
717-938-2556
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