Indian 640 Canadian

[welbike]

Hi Denis,

Great! wish I was that far, but have most of the missing parts now.

Please share more info, yours seems to be a truly Canadian one, as it has the duo passenger seat brackets.

Cheers,

Alex

ps, here's mine as it looks now;

[DenisLutman]

Originally Posted by welbike

Hi Denis,

Great! wish I was that far, but have most of the missing parts now.

Please share more info, yours seems to be a truly Canadian one, as it has the duo passenger seat brackets.

Cheers,

Alex

ps, here's mine as it looks now;

Yours looks good so far! I love that tag. Looks original! I have a photo from the Indian factory of a bunch of military 640s in final prep and they all have tags. Many of us thought they were issued tags only once they had been sent to various units but the photo casts doubt on that.

[DenisLutman]

This is invaluable if you have a Canadian one.



Here is the page showing the passenger seat parts.

[welbike]

Denis, not sure if there may have been another Canadian contract, that had the b/o lights?

Don't have the Canadian contract parts list yet, waiting till an original comes along, but you have to be careful, Indian was notoriously bad with using pictures from other manuals from other models!!

Suggest you get a copy of the book "An American in Paris" before it gets out of print, there is a wealth of info on military Indians, and while not about the 640, it gives a lot of common background info.

The page with the passenger saddle info looks it comes straight out of the 340 parts list!

Have more pictures I will post today, does your vin # falls into the Canadian contract range? (I keep a register of 640 frame & engine numbers, mine is the highest recorded, 4443 matching frame and engine)

My tag is 100% original, and for a 640 but not for my bike (Brit contract) but was the start of my search for a 640, as everybody has a WLA here in Holland!

Alex

[welbike]

Here's the picture from the factory, with the tags fitted;



Here another one, that could be Canadian??



More to follow, but have to do some work on another bike now!

Alex

[DenisLutman]

Originally Posted by welbike

Here's the picture from the factory, with the tags fitted;



Here another one, that could be Canadian??



More to follow, but have to do some work on another bike now!

Alex

These photos are interesting because the spokes and hardware (nuts, bolts, etc) appear to be cad plated. These are American models as best I can tell. None of them have the telltale rear fender with three upper fender brackets. The photos of the Canadian bikes seem to show them as parkerized or painted od.

Of course, I don't think the American 640s weren't issued to combat units and probably stayed stateside. It does look like the Canadian ones were issued more to combat units? Too, it's possible that sometime before the Canadian ones were built or starting when they were built, all these things were changed from bright finish to od or parkerized.

[DenisLutman]

Originally Posted by welbike

Denis, not sure if there may have been another Canadian contract, that had the b/o lights?

Don't have the Canadian contract parts list yet, waiting till an original comes along, but you have to be careful, Indian was notoriously bad with using pictures from other manuals from other models!!

Suggest you get a copy of the book "An American in Paris" before it gets out of print, there is a wealth of info on military Indians, and while not about the 640, it gives a lot of common background info.

The page with the passenger saddle info looks it comes straight out of the 340 parts list!

Have more pictures I will post today, does your vin # falls into the Canadian contract range? (I keep a register of 640 frame & engine numbers, mine is the highest recorded, 4443 matching frame and engine)

My tag is 100% original, and for a 640 but not for my bike (Brit contract) but was the start of my search for a 640, as everybody has a WLA here in Holland!

Alex

I've seen that book in passing but was never able to thumb through one. Thanks for the tip on it!

I've never heard mention of another Canadian 640 contract other than the 550 we all know about. I'm sure it's possible though in all the discussions I've had with Ziggy and Robin Markey they've never mentioned another.

Yes, my numbers are FDO 1798 and 640 1798, right in the range! Feel free to add that to your list.

You are right about the photos in some of the manuals being right out of another book. To my way of thinking, you can't be faulted if your bike matches the information from the parts books!

How many Canadian 640s are on your list? I would be fascinating to find out where the 550 ended up, what units, etc.