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Rebuilding the Indian: A Memoir
The building of a vintage Indian Chief motorcycle is more than the restoration of a bike—it’s the resurrection of a dream. Rebuilding the Indian chronicles one man’s journey through the fearful expanse of midlife in a quest for peace, parts, and a happy second fatherhood. Fred Haefele was a writer who couldn’t get his book published, an arborist whose precarious livelihood might just kill him, and an expectant father for the first time in over twenty years. He was in a rut, until he purchased a box of parts not so euphemistically referred to as a “basket case” and tackled the restoration of an Indian Chief motorcycle. With limited mechanical skills, one foot in the money pit, and a colorful cast of local experts, Haefele takes us down the rocky road of restoration to the headlong, heart-thrilling rush of open highway on his gleaming midnight-blue Millennium Flyer.
234 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
July 11, 2012
I found "Rebuilding the Indian" on the clearance shelf of a bookstore in Napa, California; for just $9.99. Being a motorcyclist, I figured I'd pick it up. If it turned out to be an awful book, well, only ten dollars wasted.
But what a pleasure it turned out to be. Not just a book about restoring an Indian, it's more about the Author's journey through life, his failed first marriage, his blissful second marriage, and the birth of his third child. Putting the bike back together seems to be a metaphor for his life, as he attempts to resurrect his writing and teaching careers. The restoration itself is an exercise in frustration and hilarity, and an experience I can entirely relate to; doing whatever it takes to get the bike running at the very end, when you need that last nut or bolt, it's midnight, and nearest bike shop is closed. It's no Hemingway novel, to be sure, but it's easy to read, entertaining, and touching to the soul.
If you're into motorcycles at all, or have ever contemplated buying a basketcase of your own, this is a must read. Highly recommended.
But what a pleasure it turned out to be. Not just a book about restoring an Indian, it's more about the Author's journey through life, his failed first marriage, his blissful second marriage, and the birth of his third child. Putting the bike back together seems to be a metaphor for his life, as he attempts to resurrect his writing and teaching careers. The restoration itself is an exercise in frustration and hilarity, and an experience I can entirely relate to; doing whatever it takes to get the bike running at the very end, when you need that last nut or bolt, it's midnight, and nearest bike shop is closed. It's no Hemingway novel, to be sure, but it's easy to read, entertaining, and touching to the soul.
If you're into motorcycles at all, or have ever contemplated buying a basketcase of your own, this is a must read. Highly recommended.
June 14, 2017
This is the first time I've re-read the book since I got it in 1998. It's still really good, providing insight into both the author's personal development and the process of restoring an esoteric old vehicle. I'm a half-century motorcyclist, so there are things in the book which I may appreciate more than a non-rider, but anyone can identify with Fred's personal struggles, both motorcycular and family.
April 3, 2008
I actually read this whole (realatively short) book in the book store at lunch over the course of a few weeks. A fun read.
August 25, 2020
“Wow! a real motorcycle....”
March 24, 2024
Enjoyed. Fred is an excellent writer you can trust, knows his motorcycles, and conveys the passion and experience of following his obsession with an Indian motorcycle as he restores it to life. Fun and resonates with those of us familiar with the garage, a wrench set, and the occasional chain saw.
December 15, 2024
This is a must for anyone who's at a crossroads in their life. Or for anyone who's ever been at a crossroads in their life. My entire life, I'd never heard of this book, but one week, I saw two references to it. So I figured I better track it down. I'm very glad I did.
July 7, 2017
Fun story. Now I want an Indian.
November 25, 2018
Solid, but not exceptional. The kind of quick, but slightly introspective read that'd be nice on a road trip.
July 3, 2024
A really good read
June 24, 2013
For whatever reason, I really enjoy this formula - the memoir of a fiddly, difficult task involving some old piece of equipment, and where there's a pleasantly nerdy technical dimension and one or two cranky old experts who need to be tracked down, and where the author at times gets so fed up with the damn thing that he's tempted to quit but he doesn't he keeps soldiering on and by God he gets her done and starts up the old tractor or motorbike or chainsaw or what-not and there's all this pride that comes from knowing that he made this happen so he's really - in truth - a sort of demi-god because unlike government bureaucrats or people who work in service industry jobs he's created something that he can take to the county fair or the Harley rally where old guys will stand around and admire it and smile because it reminds them of the happy days they spent riding motorcycles with gears that were hard to shift or changing the engine oil on tractors or cutting all kinds of shit with ridiculously unwieldy chain-saws or whatever.
Yes, I happen to like that formula.
It can be difficult, though, to explain the pleasure I take in it to spousal types - or in-laws or other similarly cut-throat individuals - who will put forward the suggestion that all I'm reading about is some slacker doing something inherently mundane and unheroic and trying to make it seem heroic by writing about it. A true hero would be providing for his family by finding better-paid employment and attending to important jobs around the house - quietly and without complaint.
And that may well be a fair point.
But to such critics, I say this: Fred Haefele writes well. His dialogue is particularly good - nearly as good as Elmore Leonard's, I would venture. He tells a good story. Okay, he seems prone to feeling sorry for himself, but at one point or another don't we all?
I say, too, that Fred Haefele was a man in need of a boost to his self-esteem. And if I'm not mistaken, psychologists have proven (if it can be said that they ever prove anything) that the completion of a challenging project - however mundane it may seem to assorted naysayers and peanut-gallery types - makes a person feel better about him (or her) self.
So the premise for this book - that the author's life is going a little off the rails, and that therefore he should restore an old motorcycle - is not quite the non sequitur it might seem. It is, in fact, a vindication of human nature. It is an affirmation of a fundamental psychological truth.
And to those whose jejune and sluggish minds will not permit them to grasp (or even contemplate) this, I would say only that in the fullness of time our sun will flare up into a red giant that will swallow the earth and eliminate all trace of humankind, but the fundamental truths of human nature will endure. The Platonic forms of the Indian motorcycle and the International Harvester 15 Series combine will abide, indelible, in the consciousness of the universe. In-laws, spouses, and their sympathizers, take heed.
Yes, I happen to like that formula.
It can be difficult, though, to explain the pleasure I take in it to spousal types - or in-laws or other similarly cut-throat individuals - who will put forward the suggestion that all I'm reading about is some slacker doing something inherently mundane and unheroic and trying to make it seem heroic by writing about it. A true hero would be providing for his family by finding better-paid employment and attending to important jobs around the house - quietly and without complaint.
And that may well be a fair point.
But to such critics, I say this: Fred Haefele writes well. His dialogue is particularly good - nearly as good as Elmore Leonard's, I would venture. He tells a good story. Okay, he seems prone to feeling sorry for himself, but at one point or another don't we all?
I say, too, that Fred Haefele was a man in need of a boost to his self-esteem. And if I'm not mistaken, psychologists have proven (if it can be said that they ever prove anything) that the completion of a challenging project - however mundane it may seem to assorted naysayers and peanut-gallery types - makes a person feel better about him (or her) self.
So the premise for this book - that the author's life is going a little off the rails, and that therefore he should restore an old motorcycle - is not quite the non sequitur it might seem. It is, in fact, a vindication of human nature. It is an affirmation of a fundamental psychological truth.
And to those whose jejune and sluggish minds will not permit them to grasp (or even contemplate) this, I would say only that in the fullness of time our sun will flare up into a red giant that will swallow the earth and eliminate all trace of humankind, but the fundamental truths of human nature will endure. The Platonic forms of the Indian motorcycle and the International Harvester 15 Series combine will abide, indelible, in the consciousness of the universe. In-laws, spouses, and their sympathizers, take heed.
September 14, 2013
This is a fun read, in its way. Different people will get different things from it. I'm a gearhead wannabe and sometime casual motorcyclist, and like most guys my age I like old machinery. I was mostly interested in the story of how an admittedly clueless novice transformed an array of pieces littering his garage floor into a beautiful, probably better-than-new vintage motorcycle. The really hard stuff like overhauling the engine was contracted out, but even so, it was obviously an undertaking that would be beyond most of us. Many guys I know have long lists of uncompleted projects, all less complicated than the rebuilding of a 1940s motorcycle, and the simplest such projects sit half-complete and neglected in corners of garages. I can only admire the author for seeing this project through to completion in what I recognize as good time. Of course he had a lot of help, but never mind.
I'm not sure how interested I was in the rest of his life. The progress of his wife's pregnancy and the birth of his daughter was clearly intended to run parallel to the restoration of the motorcycle. The passages in which he describes his day to day work as an arborist serve to remind the reader that the author is a working stiff and the all consuming task of rebuilding a fifty year old motorcycle has to be fitted into an ongoing life. Still, as short as this book is, I found myself wanting to skip many of the parts that dealt with his personal life, thinking to myself that his personal life is no more interesting than that of many of my friends or my own. The motorcycle and how it affects him is what makes this story worth reading. For that reason I found the acquaintances he made through his motorcycle project and his interaction with them more interesting than his family.
It was a relaxing read, but it was tedious in parts. When I finished it, i found myself leafing back to refresh my first impressions of his motorcycle mechanics mentors. Maybe this book was better than I gave it credit for as I was reading it.
There's something about old bikes. I've never ridden a really old bike, but get off a 1980s bike and ride a twenty first century bike, and the new bike does everything better. Even so, there's something about old machinery that won't be denied. I give the author big points for staying with the old Indian machine, with its balky engine and awkward unconventional controls. I gasped with him for much of the description of his first rides. I think I would have wrecked the machine and myself in the process, and by the lights of the book the author didn't have much more motorcycling experience than I do.
If you don't like old machinery in general, or motorcycles in particular, if you don't feel a sort of wistful envy of a guy who can see a huge project like this one while managing a working life, this book is probably not for you. Or maybe it is, but you'll see it very differently from the way I did.
I'm not sure how interested I was in the rest of his life. The progress of his wife's pregnancy and the birth of his daughter was clearly intended to run parallel to the restoration of the motorcycle. The passages in which he describes his day to day work as an arborist serve to remind the reader that the author is a working stiff and the all consuming task of rebuilding a fifty year old motorcycle has to be fitted into an ongoing life. Still, as short as this book is, I found myself wanting to skip many of the parts that dealt with his personal life, thinking to myself that his personal life is no more interesting than that of many of my friends or my own. The motorcycle and how it affects him is what makes this story worth reading. For that reason I found the acquaintances he made through his motorcycle project and his interaction with them more interesting than his family.
It was a relaxing read, but it was tedious in parts. When I finished it, i found myself leafing back to refresh my first impressions of his motorcycle mechanics mentors. Maybe this book was better than I gave it credit for as I was reading it.
There's something about old bikes. I've never ridden a really old bike, but get off a 1980s bike and ride a twenty first century bike, and the new bike does everything better. Even so, there's something about old machinery that won't be denied. I give the author big points for staying with the old Indian machine, with its balky engine and awkward unconventional controls. I gasped with him for much of the description of his first rides. I think I would have wrecked the machine and myself in the process, and by the lights of the book the author didn't have much more motorcycling experience than I do.
If you don't like old machinery in general, or motorcycles in particular, if you don't feel a sort of wistful envy of a guy who can see a huge project like this one while managing a working life, this book is probably not for you. Or maybe it is, but you'll see it very differently from the way I did.
November 6, 2011
Rebuilding the Indian, A Memoir. Fred Haefele, 1998. Nearly every aspect of the author's life is a complete failure. With virtually no mechanical aptitude and very little general knowledge of motorcycles, he some how manages to muster up the audacity to attempt to restore a 1941 Chief. - with predictable results. The one time Stanford collage professor is likable, yet in so many ways hopelessly pathetic, becoming a tragic character in his own memoir. Despite his limitations and many personal short falls, I think that anyone with the basic ability to empathize, can identify on some level with Haefele. I know I did.
December 23, 2010
Couldn't finish it. The autobiography aspect was intriguing, but I just couldn't push on past the halfway point. As a reader, I just wasn't drawn into the author's struggles. And, despite appearances, there is nothing in this novel to suggest a similarity to Pirsig's 'Zen' novel aside from the motorcycle.
June 18, 2008
A truly enjoyable memoir. Upon finishing it, I gave my copy to my brother - the one who, for fun, takes apart working engines, licks the parts clean, and then puts them back together again ;^) He liked it, too!
January 16, 2008
The motorcycle book.
July 22, 2008
I have an old photo of my dad riding an Indian motorcycle. That's the reason I gave the book a shot. Glad I did.
June 22, 2009
Better than brain candy but more or less a Persig extra lite. I enjoyed it and recommended it to several friends who ride and for whom art and literature is life-integral.
April 13, 2012
Love this book. Learned a lot about the Indian motorcycle and really enjoyed the author's journey through rebuilding a motorcycle in Montana.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews