1939 World’s Fair Police Motorcycle with Sidecar

The New York Public Library has an awesome collection of digitized images. I found this one while poking around. A 1939 World’s Fair Police Officer with motorcycle and sidecar.

I would love to know what type of motorcycle it is. If anyone has any information, please let me know!

New York World’s Fair - Employ... Digital ID: 1679255. New York Public Library

New York World’s Fair - Employ... Digital ID: 1679255. New York Public Library

Photo Note Reads:
“An Officer is pictured standing beside one the Motorcycles used for messenger service by the New York World’s Fair 1939. He is wearing the official uniform of the exposition police force, consisting of oxford gray coat, tan breeches, trooper’s hat, tan shirt and blue tie, leather boots and Sam Browne belt. The letters on the collar will be NYWF, giving him his official status.”

Fuzzygalore

Rachael is the whimsical writer behind the 20+ year old Girlie Motorcycle Blog. As a freelance blogger, she is on a mission to inspire laughter, self-examination, curiosity, and human connection. Girlie Motorcycle Blog can be found on several Best Motorcycle Blog lists.

You may also like...

2 Responses

  1. Panhead Paul says:

    Great photo! Based on some of the details that are visible on the rear of the bike, I would say that the motorcycle is definitely an Indian and probably from 1935 to 1939. If the bike was purchased new for the Fair, that would make it a 1938 or 1939. Other photos from the New York Public Library show World Fair officers riding in a 1938 Ford police car (convertible!). It’s also possible that the bike in the photo was a surplus bike from NYPD, as they were utilizing Indians at the time as well. Regarding the sidecar, however, I am clueless. I have never seen a similar one, so I’m thinking that it was possibly custom made for the Worlds Fair. I would love to see other photos of this rig – especially a front view. An interesting side note is that this exact photo appeared as a line drawing within a children’s coloring book that was sold during the Fair.

  1. July 15, 2010

    […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Motorcycle Stuff, Doug Just Doug and gloverka, FuzzyGalore. FuzzyGalore said: Blog Post: 1939 World’s Fair Police Motorcycle with Sidecar http://goo.gl/fb/PAGV4 […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.