Several more pictures from vintage events in the seventies and eighties. Thanks are due once again to Bettie Barber for letting me scan pictures from her family album.

The once noble Indian Motocycle Manufacturing Company of Springfield, Massachusetts had to endure many an ignominy before reaching the current revival. The first of these was at the hands of the British Brockhouse company who bought the rights to the name after Indian went under in 1953.

Brockhouse was a heavyweight engineering company who had already dabbled in motorcycles in a small way with the Corgi scooter. After purchase of the Indian name the Corgi was marketed in the States under the Indian brand as the Papoose model. The next step was the Brave.

The Brave was sold primarily on price and was notable for having a sidevalve motor of 250cc when other manufacturers had moved away from that format to overhead valves or two strokes. Also noteworthy was the Indian's woeful lack of power, one can only speculate in disbelief over how appalling the performance must have been when hitched to the optional sidecar. Despite all this the Indian Brave is now sought after (just shows the power of branding folks!). This brochure dates from 1955; the over-egging of the 'Red' Indian Brave connection is hugely crass to modern eyes. 

Brockhouse were later responsible for bringing Royal Enfield motorcycles in to the States under the Indian brand.

Blurry and badly cropped snap of an Indian combination dating from the early twenties. On the plus side the focus isn't too bad! The CR prefix on the reg number denotes a vehicle registered in Portsmouth (UK).

Fantastic period photo from around 1911 of two Thors and an Indian. The picture is annotated '4 Carpenters outside our house' on the reverse.

A very unusual bike in the UK at the time. An Indian Chief from c1940. I'm guessing the picture is taken post war and the bike is ex-WD. There were a lot of 741 models floating around army surplus in the post war years but a Chief would be something special.

The Grom Motorcycle Museum is a private collection housed in an old industrial building in the centre of the town of Vransko in central Slovenia. It claims to be the largest motorcycle museum in Slovenia, a claim undoubtedly well founded as it is a large collection by any standards.

The Grom collection has a strong emphasis on unrestored machinery and the unusual. The geographic location meant that back in the day the motorcycles of Slovenia were truly international. Italian brands are strongly represented but there is a decent spread of French, German, American and British machinery too along with a patriotic smattering of Tomos products. 

Many of the exhibits are working and used on the road and a good number are held in a preserved state. There is a wonderful 1906 Puch in a glass case that is completely unmolested and original down to period tyres which have worn down to the string casing. The collection is expanding and projects are trundling out of the workshop on a regular basis. On the go whilst I visited was a French Majestic hub centre steered machine from the late twenties.

Though Vransko is a sleepy town it's got a lot of charm, is set in stunning countryside and  definitely warrants a night or two stay. The Museum itself has a bed and breakfast attached, no-one was in when we arrived so we ended up next door in a friendly small pizzeria restaurant and bar which had comfortable and reasonably priced rooms.  

The Museum is well worth going out of your way to visit, Ljubljana airport isn't far away and a long weekend in Slovenia isn't out of the question for Europeans. Below a selection of the Museum's exhibits, more to come over the next few days...