The Indian Papoose motor scooter was developed after World War II and was based on an earlier motor scooter called the Welbike, which was actually built for the British Army. The Welbikes were designed to fit into a standard parachute airdrop container 51 inches long, 15 inches high, and 12 inches wide.
The idea was that these little scooters could be dropped from airplanes, easily assembled on the ground, and ridden by soldiers. In practice, there were some problems – a scooter and soldier both parachuting at the same time could land far from one another. The scooters were also under powered when it came to carrying a fully-equipped soldier. Fewer than 4,000 of the Welbikes were manufactured and they were seldom used for the purpose for which they were designed.
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After the war, John Dolphin – who had been an engineer on the Welbike project – saw an opportunity to re-design these little scooters for the civilian market. Seeing a need for cheap transportation after the war, Dolphin partnered with Brockhouse engineering to create the British Corgi. Many of these motor scooters were sent to the United States and re-branded as the Indian Papoose.
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The proto-type for the new Corgi/Papoose was first unveiled in 1946. While the scooter still had the fold-down handlebars and seats, the differences between this new prototype and the Welbike were vast. The new machines had a conventional gravity fed fuel tank located in front of the seat where traditional gas tanks were.
Weight was no longer a consideration since these new scooters would not be parachuted from planes, so the new models had a more solid frame than the Welbike. The prototype had an Excelsior Spryt engine, mudguards, front and rear brakes and lights. The early models were push-starts, but the 1949 model in the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum has a more traditional kick start. The Corgi/Papoose was manufactured from 1947 to 1954, with over 27,000 units made during that time.
For more info here are a couple of link to clubs:
http://www.indianpapooseclub.org/papoose.htm
http://www.indianpapooseclub.org
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