Bill Drabek, a Texas car mechanic, built a fantastic motorcycle, a shiny white Indian into which he had wedged a flathead Ford V-8. It was so fast, the story goes, that he offered to give it to anyone who would dare hold it wide-open. Nobody ever did. Drabek put 40,000 miles on the bike between 1954 and his untimely death in 1968. His inconsolable widow Jennie could not part with the big white Indian so it was pushed into a shed for 30 years where rust, rodents and finally stick-toting vandals had their way with it. I now own the Indian, which is about halfway through a full restoration. In a recent story about the bike for the website Hell for Leather (reprinted below), I noted with sadness that Jennie, who died in 2001, is buried next to her husband Bill in a Kingsville, Texas cemetery but that no gravestone marks their final resting spot. Just a bare patch of earth. "Looks like I'll have to add a granite marker to the V-8's restoration tab," I wrote in the story.
Then something quite touching happened. Unsolicited, readers offered $20 here and $100 there to help cover the cost, approximately $1500, of having a headstone engraved and installed. A total of $180 was pledged in just a couple of days. Following that lead, I've set up a fund for others who might want to help. Contributions can be made through a dedicated PayPal account, v8gravestone@gmail.com. Those who are not online-inclined can mail donations to Indian V8 Gravestone Project, 45 Egret Ln., Aliso Viejo, CA 92656, checks made out V8 Gravestone Project, please. Thanks in advance for any assistance; I'll post updates on the Indian and the gravestone project here periodically.
Not much to report on the Big White Bike front, but things are moving forward. We’ve made progress on the engine mounts. Unable to source the correct rubber mounts, Indian Engineering’s John Bivens crafted solid replicas. Two sub-projects are currently underway: 1) Finding a new workstand long enough to support the thing once it’s on its wheels and 2) getting the bodywork prepped and painted. Far as the gravestone, happy to report that we’re now past $1000 on the fundraising efforts. Big thanks to those who have contributed to giving the Drabeks a proper burial site, not the bare patch of Texas earth as it currently sits. We still need about $500 more. Would love to have the bike completed in time to take it back to Texas when we set the gravestone.
Bill Drabek with son Gene behind. Sadly I was never able to make contact with Gene, who died 2009. I do have an e-mail from one of his high school pals, Frank Britt, who remembers, “That was one big motorcycle, especially for its day. I got to ride on it once when I was 17. What a thrill! I remember the stories of giving it away if anyone had the guts to open it up wide open. Gene told me that it would do 115 miles per hour in second gear, with two more gears to go!”
Texas-size thanks to Motorcyclist magazine readers who responded very kindly with donations after my story on the Indian V-8 ran in last month’s issue. We’re now closing in on $750, or about halfway there! Again, I thank all those who took the time to send money and words of encouragement my way.
Also received a very nice note from an employee of the mortuary that originally handled Bill Drabek’s funeral in 1968, offering to provide a temporary marker for the gravesite so at least it’s not just a bare patch of earth, and to put me in touch with their monument engraver who may want to work with us on the headstone.
Builder Bill Drabek holds up eight fingers signifying cylinder count. He used the bike for everything from picking up mail at the Kingsville post office to highway trips into Mexico. At the time of his death, V-8 showed 41,000 miles.
Everybody loves a good barn-find story. The best of the tales read like a juicy detective novel. There’s rumor and intrigue, hidden clues, false hope, shadowy characters, high-stakes negotiations, invariably a trying voyage, sometimes even outright danger. But work through the plot twists, stay on the hunt, mix with a little good luck and at the conclusion we have a happy, satisfying outcome. In the end, barn-find stories are all about resurrection.
Here’s the story of my own favorite barn-find, a 1940 Indian Four equipped with a flathead Ford V-8.
