Hi Bret, not seen any reference to a key switch before it was announced as new for 1932. As Carl-Erik says, the same dash panel was certainly used after 1931 on several models.
Just been thru all the copies of factory lit I have, which shows only the earlier type switch in all the pictures up to 1932.
Someone going to call Jay and tell him his switch is off a Scout Pony ?
I will have a look thru the Indian dealer and Accessory photocopies over the weekend, it is possible it was offered as an option earlier, or was indeed fitted to some late 1931 bikes. The date reference is related to model years, which were often announced in the fall of the preceding year, so for example, you may have been able to buy a 1932 model in October 1931, and there certainly would have been 101s being sold in 1932 as new. As some of the later models used the earlier dash, but the new key switch, which suggests that the factory ran out of swithces but had dashes left over, maybe the last few 1931 bikes came with a key as supplies of the beavertail ran out.
I base this thought on the fact that they never seemed to throw anything out, as can be implied by the use of clincher rims and front brake hubs of 101 pattern on junior scouts into the late thirties, nearly ten years after they were discontinued on the rest of the range.
