Lil Indian 450?

[Dan-E-boy]

Hi everyone, I picked this one up a bit ago and most likely will be rebuilding it. It showed up on Craigslist with blurry pics so I gave the guy a call and went to check it out. Turned out to be a Lil Indian with a 4" original mag wheel on the back and a Hands 5" on the front.. was glad to see the brake caliper was there and in great shape!:smile:.. here are a few pics of it after pulling a pile of junk off that was bolted to it..

I did a Lil research and found that the 3 and 70 stamped next to the serial# most likely means that it was made March of 1970?. And also while taking some of the junk off I found good sections of the original paint. There was clean glossy purple metallic paint under the handlebar grip and under the original neck decal.. found an ad that says the 450 model came in purple, so I attached a pic of the ad too.. can any of the Lil Indian experts confirm my assumption that this is a 450 model? Would like to know because I'm considering rebuilding it to look original.. so I want to know what seat, engine and fenders(if any) belong on it..

When I pulled off the handlebar grip the first thing I thought was Taco!.. one of my Tacos has nice clean original paint on the handle bar so the last pic I posted is of the Taco and Lil Indian handle bars side by side..
If anyone has any info showing a 450 model please post it, thanks for any help guys:thumbsup: by the way I will be looking for a 4" mag to put up front soon too..:doah: I know..good luck! Right?..:laugh:

 

[trailhopper]

Sweet find. Very interesting that the engine has the "King O Lawn" decal on it. I'm sure you know that I believe they made the Aggie and Mickey bikes. :thumbsup:

 

[Dan-E-boy]

Thanks trailhopper, the engine is probably off a king-o-lawn edger or something. I think this bike came with a tecumseh. Or if it was a briggs, it would be an older style one.

 

[mrpat]

The hole in the bottom of the engine plate denotes a Tecumseh engine.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...697403.-2207520000.1372274244.&type=3&theater

nice pic

 

[Dan-E-boy]

Thank you mrpat:thumbsup: that's a very nice pic! :drool:

 

[1stlegendtx]

I think its a 450 because of the angle of the handle bars.

 

[mrpat]

Seems like meandean and cheezy1 should chime in on this thread. ;-)

 

[SaltCoupe]

Sweet! Nice find. :thumbsup:

 

[manchester1]

I have a 2hp briggs with the same decal:laugh::laugh: NICE SCORE:thumbsup:

 

[mrpat]

I heard you can get the decal for the front at allied leisure powersports here in Michigan.

http://www.alliedleisurecorp.com/m/index.htm

 

[Dan-E-boy]

I think its a 450 because of the angle of the handle bars.

once you posted this I took a look at the bars from other bikes and noticed that some start to bend forward at different distances from the top triple tree. is that what you mean? or the actual angle?

Seems like meandean and cheezy1 should chime in on this thread. ;-)

i hope they do:thumbsup:

Sweet! Nice find. :thumbsup:

I have a 2hp briggs with the same decal:laugh::laugh: NICE SCORE:thumbsup:

thanks:thumbsup:

 

[Dan-E-boy]

I heard you can get the decal for the front at allied leisure powersports here in Michigan.

Allied Leisure Corp.

found it, thank you:thumbsup:

 

[1stlegendtx]

I have 3 "LiL" Indians and one of them has the bars like yours. If you look at the "LiL"Indian add's you can see that the bars are differant on the 450.

 

[Bikerscum]

I am the world's most foremost authority on..

well, nothing really.

But I have brochures :thumbsup: (go to my photo gallery for better res pics)

 

[1stlegendtx]

This is the add I am talking about..........

I guess it's the 300 that has those bars.

 

[Dan-E-boy]

thanks for the brochures guys.:thumbsup: learning a lot about it through them..
1stlegendtx, the ad you are showing is from 1965 and has a clinton on it, not sure how different the engine plate is. but the one I have has a tecumseh engine plate. the shape of the bars and the fact that its a tecumseh model makes it look like the minis on the second brochure that Bikerscum posted.. only thing is that in his brochure the 450 is red, and in the brochure I posted, the 450 is said to be purple.. I'm guessing the brochures are from different years?

 

[1stlegendtx]

The bars and rake on yours sure look like the 300 in the brochures.:shrug:

 

[cashman]

Looks like a 300 to me too. They also sold them as kits and they could have been any color. During that time frame, the only engines I ever saw on Lil Indians was B&S. And there were some coppertone and white engines mixed together.