My wife Judy and I grew up two blocks south of Elvis’ home, Gracelands, in Memphis, Tennessee.  At the age of thirteen I was able to buy a used 1956 Cushman motor scooter to throw my newspaper route on.  I guess the Cushman got me started on bikes.

Always wanting to build an older looking bike yet with newer, time tested, bullet proof components, I dove into this project.  My goal was to have it cruise at 75mph all day long or do parade duty at 3mph in 95 degree weather without it over heating.  Having owned every brand except a Crocker and Vincent in my 60 years, I disliked some things about them but have used what I liked to create this piece of work.

After a lot of thought, I decided to build a copy of an Indian Inline 4 cylinder.  Mostly because of the after market parts availability.  As a machinist locomotive mechanic for the Illinois Central Railroad for the last 40 years I have improvised and fabricated all types of equipment, so I thought this was possible.

Originally wanting an MG Midget car engine, it ended up being too large.  A friend suggested that I use an 80 CI industrial engine he had that powered a generator, which was the right size.  A 5 speed overdrive was needed for the transmission, a BMW and Motoguzzi were the only transmissions to choose from so I settled on the Motoguzzi.  I machined the Guzzi flywheel and clutch to fit the generator engine and built an adaptor plate and ended up with what I feel is a very simple drive train.  The shaft drive is a Honda Goldwing swing arm and differential and the frame consisted of Motoguzzi, Triumph, Honda and Harley welded together.

The front end is a 2003 Indian fork and front fender.  The engine has a homemade finned aluminium valve cover and an intake exhaust manifold made from stainless steel handycap grab rail welded together and polished.  Every part of this bike has been altered in some way!

All work was done in house, except chrome, pin striping and covering the homemade seat pan.  My son Jamie handled all the frame, intake, exhaust manifold and aluminium welding along with paint and stretching the gas tanks.

I say I painted it black and blue because that’s what my fingers looked like for the three years it took to build this bike.  It took me two or three tries on every component to make them fit and look like I wanted.

Someday, I would like very much to visit the UK and attend an antique swap meet.  Triumphs and BMW’s are my favourite motorcycles.
I wish all of you good health, happiness and the time to work on your projects.

Mac Payne