DEAR EDITOR:
After reading the touching letter from the ex-wife of a top
Indian official, I am puzzled by the article in the Birmingham
Business Journal, dated June 23, 2003 (three months before Indian
Motorcycle closed), about the company looking for $1 million dollar
in incentives to relocate.
DEAR EDITOR:
After reading the touching letter from the ex-wife of a top Indian official, I am puzzled by the article in the Birmingham Business Journal, dated June 23, 2003 (three months before Indian Motorcycle closed), about the company looking for $1 million dollar in incentives to relocate. According to people involved in the situation, Indian Motorcycle is interested in relocating to Barber Motorsports Park near Birmingham, Alabama.
Also, allegedly letters were sent out recently to certain individuals to attend a secret meeting in San Jose with Indian Motorcycle officials. Prior to Indian Motorcycle closing, our welding engineer was tasked with writing a manufacturing process for all the welding that was done to the “Chief” model frame and sub-assemblies with a strict timeline that was to be completed before the fateful week that Indian Motorcycle closed.
The reason why I know this: I drafted the process for welding and tacking of the “Chief” frame. I also developed the process to fuse-weld the gas filler neck to the gas tank on a rotary adjustable table.
The bottom line is that the closure of Indian Motorcycle was probably planned by the owners and had nothing to do with a potential investor backing out. So perhaps Frank O’Connell’s ex-wife is sharing the anguish of Frank O’Connell and present wife having to move to Alabama.
Victor Valdez Jr., Gilroy
Submitted Saturday, Oct. 11 to ed****@************ch.com
