The Classic MotorCycle June 2023

Looking through this issue, I realise there’s a bit of an inadvertent Midlands, almost Wolverhampton theme this month, with Sunbeam and Stevens, though Birmingham and Redditch are well represented – Redditch being 12 miles from Birmingham city centre, the same distance as Wolves to Brum, incidentally. It never fails to interest and surprise me, really, just how based around the same area the British motorcycle industry was – all the behemoths, Matchless (AMC) apart, were from the same locale, in what a 30-mile square. There were other odd outposts (Douglas in Bristol, Scott and P&M in Yorkshire) with ‘odd’ perhaps being the operative word; their quirkier products weren’t like those from the Midlands. When we now see how the population is configured, with London at least three times – and…

In the years immediately after the First World War, especially, record breaking was a big deal, with manufacturers and riders battling it out to demonstrate the value of their machines, which of course was expected to have a direct positive impact on sales. What is surprising as we look back now, is that it wasn’t always necessarily the biggest motorcycle manufacturers which went after records, but those seeking to make a name for themselves. Witness the effort of J S ‘Jack’ Holroyd, pictured here setting off after a temporary halt for fuel and oil during his epic 600-mile record run on the 2¾hp (350cc) Blackburne, at – as was usual for such attempts – the Brooklands circuit, in Weybridge, Surrey. On the right is Mr A V ‘Ebbie’ Ebblewhite, the…

Two-wheeled auction a success for H&H Over £1,000,000 worth of classic motorcycles and vintage scooters successfully found new homes after being sold at H&H Classics’ first two-wheeled auction of 2023, on March 29, at the National Motorcycle Museum. Among the near 200 bikes and scooters up for sale, the headline-grabbing 1936 Indian Four was the most expensive motorcycle, selling for £65,550; while the most expensive scooter, an extremely original 1971 Lambretta DL200 Electronic sold for £21,275. A 1991 Norton F1 fetched £36,800 and a rare 1955 Vincent Black Shadow Series D restoration project £33,350 – £18,350 over the lower estimate, after an online bidding war between two enthusiasts in Australia and the United Kingdom. The oldest motorcycle on offer, the dismantled 1912 Rex with JAP V-twin engine, went on to…

To say Bernal Osborne’s proposed trip to Scandinavia on his Excelsior two-stroke in the summer of 1936 was met with scepticism by his colleagues at the RAC (Royal Automobile Club), would seem something of an understatement. Apparently, his plans ‘…brought forth such derision that colleagues, knowing little of the subject, openly laid bets as to the improbability of my returning alive.’ Which sounds a little overdramatic, given that even 90-odd years ago, bloodthirsty Vikings were a thing of the distant past… In fact, it was the civilised occupation of business meetings which meant Osborne was heading north in Europe, as he had calls to make in both Norway’s Oslo and Sweden’s Stockholm. Osborne, the man who was to be Motor Cycling’s Midlands editor in the 1950s, was born in 1910.…

It seemed that the event, held over May 5-9, 1965, was deemed as crucial to the ongoing success of the two-wheeled world, especially as Motor Cycle (which had by now dropped ‘The’ from its title) magazine was seemingly struggling a little, the two-pronged assault coming from Johnny-come-latelies Motor Cycle News and Motorcycle Mechanics. Both these titles had a younger, more modern and fresh approach to the subject, while chaps at Motor Cycle were, frankly, still acting like it was the mid-1950s, not acknowledging that the times, they were a’ changing… Blackpool’s Winter Gardens had been chosen as the venue for this fresh, northern expansion. Opened in 1878, the aim of the original building had been to provide somewhere for holidaymakers to go during ‘inclement weather,’ basically. Located around 250 metres…

Another Ajay long-term story Your article in the February edition of The Classic MotorCycle, featuring the lovingly restored AJS 31CSR, prompted me to share the story and photographs of my own machine, which is almost identical in every way, including the year of manufacture (1960) to the one featured, and also has a long history. My Ajay was bought as a year-old machine from a dealer close to the factory in 1961, by a gentleman known as Mick, who lived in Dulwich, and still does, although now in his 90s. Mick had yearned after an AJS such as this for some time and was therefore very pleased to be able to purchase UJB 484, which quickly became his pride and joy. Mick travelled everywhere on this bike, including the TT…