Charles Lindbergh became known around the world as an aviator, but a motorcycle belongs to his story of travel too. The Henry Ford preserves an Excelsior that he bought at age 18 in his hometown of Little Falls, Minnesota, about seven years before his 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic. In the museum’s account, the machine belongs to his younger years, before his name became a fixture of aviation history.
While studying at the University of Wisconsin, Lindbergh rode it on trips to Madison, Wisconsin, Camp Knox in Kentucky, and Jacksonville, Florida. These were more than short outings close to home. The journeys covered substantial distances, while rough roads led to frequent repairs. That detail gives the story its practical scale: travelling by motorcycle offered the freedom to choose a route, but also demanded the ability to keep the machine running.
The museum titles the artifact a 1920 Excelsior motorcycle, while its catalogue gives 1919 as the date it was made. Built in Chicago, the preserved machine contains metal, brass, nickel alloy, rubber and leather. It is not currently on public display, yet its documented travels show how closely early motorcycling was tied to road conditions, endurance and the hands-on work of repairing a vehicle along the way.