John ...Yes, I too thought that's a very creditable nod to their heritage ... inevitably bigger and heavier (as are most of the 2026 riders compared to their 1940 counterparts!! 🙂)

Mrs Image had an old Chief, but an earlier one without the deep valanced mudguards .... mad thing to drive ... the foot clutch was a proper 'suicide' clutch that was spring loaded to the engaged position like a car, meaning you couldn't put your foot down even if the bike was falling over unless you'd hit neutral on the hand gearchange .... the throttle was on the left side and there was a twistgip on the right for the manual advance/retard .... if you went into 'modern bike auto-mode' you'd run up to an obstacle slamming the ignition into full retard while grabbing for a non-existent clutch-lever and dabbing at an imaginary foot gearlever that was actually a clutch that wouldn't stay down ... all at unabated speed .... not a bike to daydream on!! 😆

K