Indian tin ware
Recently I got to hear about a fellow up north making tin ware for Indian motorcycles. So the next time I was in Queensland I arranged to have a meeting and find out more about him. I visited Terry Kay, a native of Gympie and a retired panel beater. Obviously with this type of background in the motor trade one of his skills was that of metal fabrication. He tells me that in his time in the trade it was not uncommon to have to make from start to finish door sills and other components that were not readily available. He was an active push bike racer and later had a short stint trying to race a 350 twin Jawa on dirt tracks, before he switched to racing open wheel cars in the Formula Ford category. For some time he was more focused on his occupation. Then in 1973 he acquired an off-road 450 Desmo Ducati which he worked on to be more of a road going machine. He then toyed around with a number of 750 Honda fours. He has in recent times also restored a 500 twin Ariel which he had previously owned and he got that back in poor condition. Then about 30 years ago when he was about to retire a local fellow had two Indians which he had totally dismantled, right down to every last single nut and bolt. Terry assisted with the restoration, and when this fellow left the area he gave him the left over parts. He then set about to build up an Indian for himself. This however required numerous phone calls to USA and obtaining a number of bank cheques to pay for parts. He gained some good guidelines from a 1985 edition of the Super Bike magazine. To complete this machine he had to borrow a tool box to be able to make a copy. When he later attended a rally with this machine, he had a number of requests to make tool boxes and other metal components for Indian owners. He started to make the tooling so as to be able to press out items such as the chain guards. However it was a learning experience as Terry made a number of “hiccups”, so he contacted an engineering company in Brisbane and explained what he was trying to do. From these inquiries he was to learn about using the 1 mm cold rolled steel, the softer the better. He was also advised to use a Castrol lubricant made specifically for the pressing process. Terry showed me his products such as chain guards and tool boxes. I was impressed, especially with the small stainless steel locks on the tool box which bore the Indian inscription. Another of his innovations was the use of fine galvanized spring wire which is part of the tool box locking mechanism. Frankly I have seen items such as those Terry is making that are not made to his high standard but retail for a higher price. He makes a total of thirteen various tool and battery boxes, six generator belt guards, one fork shield, a number of rear stands, various clips and ten different chain guards all for Indians. A price list can be obtained by emailing Terry at terrydianekay@bigpond.com or phone (07) 5482 2878. giving me an outline of how this item came about. It transpired that it was produced back on the ‘good old days’ when ‘foreign orders’ at the workplace was the order of the day. Mostly these efforts were focused on getting the ultimate performance out of some employee’s race machine. However in this instance Rod Tingate, a long time motorcycle enthusiast and draughtsman supplied the drawing and specifications. At the same workplace a pattern maker was then able to provide the necessary material to enable these manifolds to be cast. They and other manifolds for 500 and 650 Nortons were then available for purchase from MODAK. This was back at a time when the late Robert Beanham was still the proprietor. David recalls that everyone was out to maximize their machines to get Bonneville performance. The “go faster” craze died so there was no further need to have them cast. David tells me that he still has the pattern but none of the finished product.