The World's Fastest Indian at the Simeone Museum / Movie Night with Peter Starr

Studio Photo by Michael Furman shot August 2018 at the Simeone Museum

In May of 2018, I saw the ex-Burt Munro ' World's Fastest Indian' Bonneville Salt Flats streamliner at Quail Lodge in California when I was judging competition motorcycles there. I was blown away by this tiny little weapon Burt Munro used so effectively 50 years ago at Bonneville to set a world record speed of 183.58 mph. This was the most highly evolved 1920 Indian Scout on the planet. When the machine won it's class this year at Quail Lodge, the crowd roared with approval as the owner came to the stage to collect it's prize and fired it up. I made up my mind that I would try and convince the owner to bring it to a yearly show I organize in Philadelphia. Getting in touch with the owner was not easy but a dozen calls later I made contact. He'd only recently purchased the machine from the family that'd owned it for many years. It turns out the Burt Munro streamliner was coming east to appear at the Greenwich Concours in June. I pitched him on the idea of displaying it at the world famous Simeone Museum for a few months and then letting us move it the nearby Radnor Hunt Concours. Much to my surprise, he graciously said 'yes', that would be fine with him.

When I next saw the World's Fastest Indian, I was recruited into the starting team. It's not the kind of machine that you push a button and start. You start by priming it with menthanol and the manually choking the carburetor with a methanol soaked cloth. Then it's turn it's insert the electric starter and crank it over. Usually, it fires up right away. You bring it up to working temp and then blip the throttle. First a little, then a little more. Before you know it, it's belching blue flames out the side pipes and sounding fantastic. Somewhere along the way, it hits you - Burt Munro, then a 67 year-old New Zealander lay prone over the engine with the throttle wide open skimming across the Salt Flats at a very, very quick pace on this machine. It's almost incomprehensible what he accomplished with virtually no money and a lot of hard work. It's simply amazing!

In addition to the famed Indian streamliner, the 10th Annual Classic Motorcycle Exhibit at the Simeone Museum housed 40 great motorcycles from 1913-1999. Indians, Italian and Superbikes were the featured marques, but there was really something for everyone.

2017 AMA hall of Fame inductee Peter Starr returned to the museum again in August 2018 to share the world premiere of his 1976 film, Bol D'or the 24 Hours of LeMans. It was the second time legendary filmmaker Peter hosted our 'Movie Night at the Museum'. Once again, we had a packed crowd of motorcycle owners turned out for a splendid film about the special nature of what it takes to race for 24 hours with just two riders per team.

After the film concluded, we wheeled the Burt Munro Indian outside and started it a number of times to the delight of the audience. The crisp crackle of the engine got a rousing round of applause. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity for the attentive audience.

Many thanks to the owner of the ex-Burt Munro 'World's Fastest Indian' Scout streamliner and all the owners of classic motorcycles who shared their machines with us for this exhibit.
Thanks to Dawn Deppi who provided these photos for the 10th Annual Simeone Museum Classic Motorcycle Exhibit.