Indian Motorcycle “30 Reasons” Fact Card
Indian made its case with a checklist, thirty claimed advantages, and two unnamed competitors that never had a chance. “30 REASONS Why Indian is the World’s Finest Motorcycle!” runs across the top, with Indian, Motorcycle “B,” Motorcycle “C,” and “Your Choice” lined up below for the verdict.
How the comparison worked
The subheading promises “BEST APPEARANCE, GREATEST COMFORT, UTMOST SAFETY, DEPENDABILITY and LONGEST LIFE.” Across the diagonal are features such as “Selection of Colors,” “Aluminum Brake Shoes,” “Steering Damper,” “Cadmium Hardware,” “Two Beam Headlight,” “Unit Power Plant,” and “Stop Light.” Indian gets every check mark. The other two motorcycles pick up a few scraps before the card announces, “You have All 30 Features when you BUY Indian!”
That is the whole trick. By calling the rivals Motorcycle “B” and Motorcycle “C,” Indian could invite the salesman—and the customer—to fill in whichever competing names were most useful that day. It is not a road test. It is a sales argument designed to be understood before the buyer reached the bottom row.
Built for the sales counter
The card reads like something meant to live on a sales counter or come out during a showroom conversation. A salesman did not need a long brochure when thirty columns of check marks had already put Indian ahead.
I guess I messed up. After years of riding Harleys, this card would have me believe the answer had been sitting in thirty little boxes all along. Indian’s definitions naturally favor Indian, but that is exactly what makes the piece such a good example of one-glance motorcycle salesmanship.
The larger collection of Indian advertising and model literature uses scenery, speed records, police service, and engineering diagrams. This card needs none of that. It gives the buyer thirty columns, two anonymous rivals, and an answer already chosen.
That hard-sell language is why the card belongs in the motorcycle history archive. Indian did not merely claim to build a good motorcycle. It printed the scorecard, checked every box, and handed the customer a pencil for “Your Choice.”