Can someone tell me anything about this Indian Princess I just picked up for $20?

[BirdNerd1970]

I saw this bike on top of a guy's scrap metal truck. Long story short, I got it for $20. It was the front break system that caught my attention and I knew it had to be old. I didn't know it was an Indian until I got the bike in my possession. In my search for info, I found plenty of images of Indian Princess bikes but none like this one. 1930s-40s? No rear wheel but I think it might be a single speed with coaster brake. Any information would be great.

 

[Oilit]

I saw this bike on top of a guy's scrap metal truck. Long story short, I got it for $20. It was the front break system that caught my attention and I knew it had to be old. I didn't know it was an Indian until I got the bike in my possession. In my search for info, I found plenty of images of Indian Princess bikes but none like this one. 1930s-40s? No rear wheel but I think it might be a single speed with coaster brake. Any information would be great.

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Since there's no mounting for a rear brake handle, the rear probably was a coaster brake. But I think Sturmey-Archer had a coaster brake 3 speed hub from pretty early on, so that's a possibility. May have to do some research.

 

[Freqman1]

1950s British built and likely had a 3 speed rear hub. Search the forum and you will see some of these. Not a tremendous amount of collectability especially in that condition. Even really nice girls bikes have a hard time getting anything more than a couple hundred tops. V/r Shawn

 

[phantom]

Reading the title, not at all what I thought the post was about.

 

[bricycle]

I would guess that's a men's saddle

 

[juvela]

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suspect lugs, crown, shell, pump pegs, headset, etc to be all Brampton pieces

member @dnc1 shall likely have some solid information for you...

Indian Scout and Indian Princess marques were contract produced by Phillips -

1951 model Scout (gents) -

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[phantom]

I would guess that's a men's saddle

Unless you turn it 180

 

[bleedingfingers]

Looks like Hercules built by cranks forks and pin striping but could be anything British as they shared a lot of parts .
Westwood or Dunlop Rims if you are looking for another wheel old Raleighs or CCM are a good source for those
or anything British .
Was a coaster or three speed coaster like has already been mentioned .
Seat is probably old Brooks Mattress saddle unisex I don't think I have ever seen a lady's version .
I had a men's and lady's pair of Raleigh Superbs seats were the same on both .

 

[dnc1]

Can't find any info on these whatsoever.
I assume that they were rebadged by Phillips solely for the US export market, and almost utilising a rear coaster brake, probably a 'Perry' brand model.
It Is very, very similar to a Phillips 'Roadmaster' (Ladies model P-10) from the mid 1950s. (sadly I can't find an image of the ladies version).....

(Image from V-CC library).

These had the same lug work and pinstriping on the paintwork.

In response to issues mentioned by several posters above, saddles were unisex models. Ladies pattern saddles were not usually. an option around that era.
And quite often these bikes would have been exclusively singlespeed, with a 3-speed hub offered as an optional extra.
It is a common fallacy that all British bicycles from the 1930's to the 1970's were always 3-speed models.
That is evidenced from the specification details in the image above.
An extra £2 5s 9d for the 3-speed version probably represented just over 50% of the national average weekly wage in 1953 of £5 2s 5d!
A not insignificant amount.

 

[BirdNerd1970]

Thank you everyone for responding. Got a laugh from the comment about my wording in title. Didn't realize I framed it that way Thanks dnc1 for the detailed description Phillips Roadmaster. It seems very likely this bike is the P.10 model.I appreciate everyone's responses.