A Brief History of Irv Seaver Motorcycles
Although it has worn several names and moved about a bit, the store known as Irv Seaver Motorcycles has been in continuous operation since 1911.
Carriker Motors
Founded by Judd Carriker, the original store was located in the Orange traffic circle in the city of Orange. The store sold the then popular Pope and Excelsior motorcycles. In the mid teens Judd acquired the Indian franchise, moved Carriker Motors to a new location at Main St. and Palmyra and became the west coast racing and sales headquarters for this famous marque.
Joe Koons joins up
In 1939, Joe Koons joined Judd forming Carriker and Koons. The partnership flourished until 1949 when Joe, wanting his own business, established Koons Indian in Long Beach. Judd became a sole proprietor and moved up Main St. to a new location (currently the location of the Main Place Mall).
Seaver takes over
In 1953 Irv Seaver, who was a young Indian enthusiast, bought out Judd, intending to make Indian a household name in the Southland. Unfortunately, at the same time, Indian Motorcycle Co. was in the process of closing its doors. Irv set his sights on a new location and product.
Property was chosen and construction started on the building that became the Southland’s most modern motorcycle store in 1957. With the updated facility came the addition of the world’s finest motorcycles, BMW.
In 1959 an eager Evan Bell was hired and began learning the ins and outs of the motorcycle business. The next twenty years saw various English and Japanese brands represented in the store.
Bell Buys the Business
Evan not only learned the business, he also loved it. On January 1st, 1979 he purchased the dealership and retained the Irv Seaver name. In 1992 with the move back to the city of Orange, the shop became exlusively BMW. Since then the years have been happy ones for the Irv Seaver Motorcycle family and beneficial to frequent customers who experience a friendly atmosphere at the dealership. Evan now has over 50 years of motorcycle customer service experience. That experience shows when you come in and interact
with all of the sales and service representatives. Evan and his family look forward to assisting you with all of your BMW motorcycling needs. After all that’s what it’s all about. And yes, Irv calls occasionally, just to see how things are going.
