Motorcycle Blogs: 1913 THOR 'BOARD TRACKER' UNEARTHED

Shot ca.1930, when the Thor was last given an airing

With dozens of 'original paint board-track racers' crowding the auction houses of late, parsing the clever fakes and the Real Deal has become an exercise in suspicion, head-scratching, and a desperate search for printed history which is thin on the ground. Months ago, Virgil Eling, director of the Solvang Vintage Motorcycle Museum, sent a note to The Vintagent; is there any extant literature on Board Track Racing single-cylinder Thors? My silence on the subject (proving no info at hand) led to a conversation with Virgil at the Las Vegas auction week, the premier spot in the US for a moto-schmooze.

The Thor as it appears today; grungy and original - perfect!

The results of Eling's research are in the metal, and the museum: a ca.1913 Thor board-track single-cylinder racer, untouched since 1930. It lived its whole life with one family, near Chicago, the location of the Aurora Machine and Tool Co, who built Thor motorcycles and supplied components to seemingly the whole of the nascent American motorcycle industry. The anecdotal history of this machine claims it was raced until 1920, laid up as we see it, then brought out by the family ca. 1930 for some dirt-track practice and new tires fitted, but time had marched on in such racing, and the clutchless, throttle-less Thor single proved a handful, and it was laid up again, as we see it today, a fascinating relic. Research has yet to show another single-cylinder racing machine from Thor of this era, although there are photos of an earlier Thor, ca.1908 and identical to an Indian 'Torpedo Tank' racer (below).

ca.1909 Thor racer, of the type used by Don Johns to win races in California...

Like most early motorcycle makers, the Thor has roots in the bicycle industry of the late 1800s. The Aurora Machine and Tool Co was founded in 1886 to supply component parts of bicycles; frame lugs, wheel hubs, spoke nipples, handlebars, etc. One of their customers for bicycle-frame castings was George Hendee. In 1901, Hendee, having formed the Indian Motocycle Co with Oscar Hedstrom, approached Aurora to build the first of their 'production' engines, as Indian had yet no forge or casting capability. Hendee had already built 3 prototype motorcycles (cycle-pacers) with engines very similar to the ubiquitous DeDion design. Aurora agreed to build the motors and supply component parts to Indian, with a 'non-compete' clause, stating they would not build their own motorcycles.

The first Thor v-twin from their 1908 catalog

The first Indian 'Moto-cycles' of 1902 used Aurora-built engines, 137 to be exact, and their archives note an 'unreliable and sporadic' supply of engines. It is speculated that Indian themselves built the rest of their machine, although it is likely Aurora still provided chassis lug castings. In a 'letter of the law' move, in 1903 Aurora formed the 'Thor Moto Cycle and Bicycle Co', which sold all of the parts necessary to build a motorcycle, in kit form. While Thor per se did not sell assembled moto-cycles, a few other companies appeared in 1903 with Indian/Thor clones, although each was different, as Aurora sold no 'jigs' to build their frames, thus each was 'different enough' to avoid a lawsuit.

1911 Model 'O'

The similarity between these different makes, all built with the same components, has resulted in much current-day confusion for restorers; is it a 1903 Indian, Thor, or something else? The list of these early machines, built from Thor components, is long...according to Gregory Walter, they include "Thoro-bred, Reading Standard, Merkel, Apache, Racycle, Manson and in years later Sears and Torpedo." Even Cyclone, Henderson, and Harley Davidson used Aurora parts.

From the 1913 catalog

By 1908, the agreement with Indian having expired, Aurora began selling complete motorcycles at 'Thor', and established a dealer network. That initial single-cylinder model, slightly updated, was joined by a v-twin with the engine distinctively canted forward, and atmospheric inlet valves, as with the single, and most other American machines at the time. Both models used Thor's own updraught carburetor.

1912 and later free-engine clutch with integral 2-speed gear cluster

1912 saw a redesigned range of singles and twins, with proper mechanically-operated valves, and the option of a two-speed bolt-on transmission and clutch (above). Schebler carburetors were now an option, as was a 1,200cc engine for the twin. By 1915, a new, cast-iron, bolt-on two-speed hub was available for Thor and other manufacturers (Henderson 4s used them), although this device was infernally heavy.

Ca.1912 Thor racer.

Regarding racing: from 1908-1912, Thor fielded a racing team, managed by William 'Bill' Ottaway, which had some notable successes after Ottaway - a gifted engineer - had tuned the engines, achieving results perhaps beyond any natural advantage of the Thor engine per se, as Thor seems not to have developed special racing engines as rivals Indian and Excelsior had done. Ottaway's success was noted by the ambitious Harley Davidson management, who had never before supported racing, but saw the huge sales impact of race victories. H-D lured Ottaway from Thor in 1913, and the incredible success of his racing team could be credited with raising H-D's profile from 'solid/dependable' to 'world beater' in just two years, with sales, as predicted, rapidly rising. Thor, after losing the ace up their sleeve, offered in their 1915 catalog a 'Short Coupled' (shortened frame) racing machine to the public, and according to Gregory Walter, these were 1914 models 'tarted up' as racers, and not especially competitive.

Restored 1914 Thor twin

By 1916, more changes were afoot, and the last 'new' design meant a proper clutch and 3-speed gearbox, and a new single-cylinder design appeared in 1918. Production must have been very slow during WW1, and the Aurora board of directors, finding profit in other manufacturing areas, agreed to cease motorcycle production in 1920.

Below are detail shots of our Board Track Single:

Original paint, original grease, original decal

Note the 'breathing' holes cut into the cylinder barrel; typical racing practice, albeit very messy!

The headstock showing the Aurora transfer; last patent listed is 1912 - from this we infer our machine is ca.1913, or slightly later. Note original friction tape wrapping the controls.