For our Throwback series, we are revisiting an older build. Each build is unique and the story that goes along with the bike is no different. From what it’s like to ride, to build, to just be in the presence of one of these bikes will conjure up some stories we would like to share with you, our fans! We will try to share some pictures and info that we haven’t shared anywhere else so be sure to comment on which bike we should talk about next and what you want us to talk about. For now, enjoy!
The Indian Continental Scout is one of those builds that when I think about it, I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside. It conjures up memories of some great times gathering around the bike, discussing it, soaking it in. Over the course of our building and owning the Scout, we got to share its beauty, it’s sound track, and a little bit of its history. When I personally first viewed the bike, it was already a work of art many hours into the build process. My task was simple at that point – to do the bike justice by photographing it in the most elegant way among some of the worlds greatest super cars. No pressure. “Hey can you move that F430 back 10 feet?” May have been said to accommodate a better composition, or maybe I just wanted to hear an Italian V8.
At this point in my journey with Analog Motorcycles I had only photographed the fantastic ‘Blue Baron.’ While still one of my favorite Analog builds and subjectively cool, that bike was not destined to be the Quail winning custom the Indian came to be. The photography location was to be Lake Forest Sports Cars, a local dealership for Ferrari, Aston Martin, Lotus, McLaren, and Maserati among some other “used cars.”
In the visit to scout the location (see what I did there?), we scoped out a number of locations within the dealership and were able to narrow down the areas where we wanted to photograph the bike. With some historic race cars and other very expensive super cars in the background, and periphery of the bike, Tony and I developed a plan to take advantage of the opportunity our friends at LFSC were giving us. Number one on the list was finding an assistant for the sole purpose of making sure my lighting equipment did not fall on anything worth more than my life savings.
On shoot day we were able to capture some classic looking images that I still love to this day. I chose the iconic Ferrari F40 for the background of one of our hero shots, and in another location found a retired 280 GTO race car flanked by a Maserati MC12 ‘track only’ Corse version. In a few shots I used parts of some more standard cars like Ferarri’s FF, 458 Italia, and 430. And lastly we ended up using the underside of a McLaren MP4-12c on a lift opposite an SCCA GT1 spec C4 Corvette. These are some of the most expensive ‘backdrops’ I’ve ever used.
The showcase is ultimately the magnificent custom Indian that Tony built. It completely stands apart from anything else I’ve seen (even 3 years later). The motor, while not an engineering masterpiece, is a thing of art. The sound with the slightly baffled exhaust is intoxicating, and the color combination has just enough flash to demand attention.
Eventually during a second shoot with photographer Doug McGoldrick (main page featured image), I was able to record the Scout in action. Every once in a while, I go back and watch that video because there is something special about seeing the Indian in motion. It was destined for the scrap heap and now it lives on as a working piece of art…
