Indian in the Barn

It's every gearhead's dream to discover a vintage car, truck or motorcycle that's been stored away and forgotten about for decades.  These vehicles are called barn finds, or referred to as barn fresh because many are found covered in dust in derelict barns across the country.

I stumbled upon my own barn find (machine shed actually - but close enough) last summer while responding to a Craiglist ad with dirt bikes for sale.  The seller (a former acquaintance coincedently) told me the bikes were sold, but indicated he had an old, fixer-upper bike I was welcome to have.

What I got was a rare 1972 Indian JC-5A.  This is the same Indian family of bikes that competed with Harley-Davidson from the turn of the century until the early 1950's.  The short-lived era of Indian off-road bikes lasted from approximately 1971 to 1976.

This JC-5A was bought new in '71 or '72 and ridden occasionally for 3-4 years before being outgrown and forgotten about for the last 30+ years.

My plans to get the bike running have gone no further than for it to gather dust in the back of my shed while waiting to be someone else's barn find.