Ace - All Models

Company History

Ace Motor Corporation was founded in 1919 by William G. Henderson after his departure from the Henderson brand he had previously created. Ace doubled down on the silky inline-four layout, building elegant, fast motorcycles that targeted affluent riders who wanted smoothness and stature. With long, low frames, quality fittings, and a reputation for speed, Ace fours became aspirational machines in an era when most motorcycles were utilitarian singles and twins. The company courted racing and endurance feats as marketing, cementing the idea that a refined four could also be durable. Financial headwinds and Henderson’s untimely death in 1922 challenged the firm, but the design outlived the company: Indian purchased rights in the late 1920s and evolved the concept into the famous Indian Four. Historically, Ace’s significance far exceeds its production volume. It popularized the notion of the motorcycle as a luxury/performance object—quiet, smooth, and technically sophisticated—years before multi-cylinder refinement became common. Collectors prize surviving Aces for craftsmanship and for the direct lineage they share with Indian’s later fours. Ride one and you feel an alternate history of American motorcycling: gentler vibrations, turbine-like thrust, and the sense that prestige and engineering finesse were already intertwined a century ago.