If it looks like an Indian sounds like an Indian then it must be an Indian. Not always. The Mabeco motorcycle was made in the late 1920's by Max Bernhard in Dresden Germany. It was a pretty close copy and got Indian pretty stirred up when they went from green paint to red. Indian sued and put an end to the Mabeco. Never the less, they produced some 3400 motorcycles.
In the early days of motorcycle production everyone copied whoever had the best ideas. Both Indian and Harley used Evinrude engines when the first started and the frame were copied from Merkel. The Japanese built a Scout replica in 1922 that was so good that Indian acquired one and were amazed at the production quality.
Most of this information came from the Indian 101 Scout Association and some on-line research.
Just goes to show you, "there is nothing new under the sun".
