*Classic Motorcycle Buffs HELP! - Photo restoration - Pic inside*

[S-Man]

So we're throwing my parents a surprise party for their 45th anniversary and I'm restoring some old photos of them when they were younger for a slideshow.
I have this photo of my dad in the Air Force, and he's on a Motorcycle, it's probably 1950 or so. I remember him talking about an "Indian Motorcycle" he used to ride, I don't know what year or model it is, but from a google search, I've seen some similar photos to this one, but not exactly. Unfortunately the photo has been torn in half.
Does anyone know what bike this is, and are there any photos that I can reference? I'm trying to re-construct some stuff on it but it's so blurry and damaged it's kinda hard.
Here's the before photo and where I'm at now.

help?

Thanks!

[Truckman]

Have you tried here?......Ben

[Jusselin]

Originally Posted by S-Man

So we're throwing my parents a surprise party for their 45th anniversary and I'm restoring some old photos of them when they were younger for a slideshow.
I have this photo of my dad in the Air Force, and he's on a Motorcycle, it's probably 1950 or so. I remember him talking about an "Indian Motorcycle" he used to ride, I don't know what year or model it is, but from a google search, I've seen some similar photos to this one, but not exactly. Unfortunately the photo has been torn in half.
Does anyone know what bike this is, and are there any photos that I can reference? I'm trying to re-construct some stuff on it but it's so blurry and damaged it's kinda hard.
Here's the before photo and where I'm at now.

help?

Thanks!

Sam that looks like an old indian.

[CaptainTom]

It looks most like a mid 40's- 50's Indian Chief.
Hard to tell with only half a picture.
These cycles transformed a lot even during the production due to war time shortages,etc.
The enclosed wheel, and rear spring "ride over" bar are very Indian.
The sprung seat may be a "modern" adaptation and give a clue as to the model year.

This is a pix of a '47 Chief

[S-Man]

Thanks guys, I'm sure it is and old Indian, looks like a 47-49. Looks like they changed in '50.
I'm having trouble with the brakelight area (I'm not sure if that's some debris on the road or the brakelight/license plate combo?)
and the engine area just above the foot crank (that thing that looks like a bicycle pedal)...
Tom that was the bike I was looking at on the forum Ben posted. It looks very similar. I haven't seen another one with teardrop pipes though.

Thanks for the help y'all.

[Jusselin]

Originally Posted by CaptainTom

The sprung seat may be a "modern" adaptation and give a clue as to the model year.

that is what gave it away for me, that seat is a trade mark almost

[Hanky]

Tis a pan head harley

[Jusselin]

Originally Posted by Hanky

Tis a pan head harley

i was getting harleys pan head mixed up with the indians, lol i almost called it an indian pan head

[S-Man]

Originally Posted by Hanky

Tis a pan head harley

Wow, I think we may have a winner! http://www.carlscyclesupply.com/Jerry%20491.jpg

It's difficult to tell though. The picture linked is a 1949 Panhead Harley from a google search. That gives me a really good view of the details too. Although there are some differences, the bolt patterns and everything looks identical. Wow. This is awesome. You da man Hanky!
Thanks peeps!

[lhdvies]

In "54" an army buddy of mine had an old Harley(late fortys) which we rode all over central Texas when we could(& when it would run). I had an old pic of it, but can't locate it anywhere.)Probably lost in my many moves) the one thing I do remember was it had the Star & passenger handles on the seat like the one shown in your link.
Good luck with your restoration-very neat idea!!

[groovyone]

My buddy has a 59 Harley panhead that looks darn close.

[CaptainTom]

Gotta admit I was wrong.
That Harley is a spitting image of the photo.

[S-Man]

Thanks again for the help guys. That pic that I linked to above really helped. I copied the exhaust pipe area before it hits the muffler and pasted it on the old photo, overlayed it, adjusted opacity and kinda blended it in. That area was totally destroyed and I had no idea what it looked like. I think this looks pretty good, I hope my dad will get a kick out of it.
I also used Imagenomic's Noiseware and used unsharp mask filters quite a bit.
I left the edges ragged cuz I like it.
I wouldn't have been able to finish it off as well without y'alls help. Thanks so much.

P.S. It's scary how much he looks like me here.

[groovyone]

Nice work! My buddy just confirmed it as a 49 or 50 before I read your post. His is a 61, so he corrected me there too.

[lhdvies]

Good work Sam, that is going to be a priceless photo!!!