Rrosenthal

The two stroke Velocette was to form the basis of Veloce’s early range. This is a 1925 example Velocette (Veloce Ltd) 1904-71 UK German born Johannes Gutgemann emigrated to England and the Midlands in 1876. Eight years later he married Elizabeth Ore. They had five surviving children, boys Eugene and Percy and girls Adele, Dora…

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Velosolex brought cheap and cheerful transport to the masses Velosolex 1946- France/Hungary The Motor Cycle published a one-page road test on 24 July 1952 entitled '45cc Velosolex Motorised Cycle' with the accompanying less-than-snappy standfirst; ‘A sturdy, built-as-a-whole runabout with adequate performance and exceptional ease of control.’ ‘Perfect French minimalism’ would have succinctly suited. After WWII…

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Vintage HRD-badged Vincent-built machine with 490cc JAP engine Vincent 1928-55 UK Born in London to wealthy parents whose main income came from a partnership in a large Argentinian cattle ranch, Philip Conrad Vincent, PCV to many, was educated at Harrow and then went up to Cambridge in 1926 to read Mechanical Sciences. Having already decided…

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Vindec V-twin three wheeler Vindec 1902 -29 UK Parts and cycle suppliers to the trade and later motor and motorcycle parts and accessories factors, Brown Brothers Ltd of Great Eastern Street, London, entered the motorcycle world with the Vindec brand in 1902. Brown Bros also marketed machines under the Brown label during 1902-19. As Brown…

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1921 Waverly with Brampton Biflex front fork Watney 1922-23 UK Another small volume maker who assembled, or had assembled, motorcycles using proprietary parts. Engines included 348cc side-valve Blackburne, 293cc side-valve JAP, 269cc Villiers Mk V and 247cc Villiers Mk V1. Waverley 1921-23 UK One of literally hundreds of makers and assemblers who tried to make…

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The Williamson flat twin was offered with the options of air or water cooling Williamson 1912-20 UK Family links tied in early Williamson production with the Douglas family who ran the famous Bristol maker of flat twin motorcycles, Douglas. Built in Coventry, the Williamson used either air-cooled or water-cooled fore and aft 962cc flat twin…

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Yamaha YA1 motorcycle was a near copy of the DKW RT125 Yamaha 1955- Japan Born in 1851 at Wakayama, Torakusu Yamaha began a 10-year engineering apprenticeship in Nagasaki, often tutored by an English clockmaker. He soon learnt an appreciation of highly accurate precision engineering. Aged 30 Torakusu started a further apprenticeship at a medical shop…

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Pair of Zenith Zerettes with Fred Barnes Zanella 1957- Argentina The Zanella brothers left war torn Italy and emigrated to Argentina in the late 1950s where they set up an engineering and associated metal business. By the mid-Fifties they'd begun manufacturing car components and then began looking at the assembly and manufacture of motorcycles. Zanella…

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Zundapp 597cc KS601 OHV with Steib sidecar Zundapp 1921 (1917)-85 Germany An amalgamation of munitions companies who created ZUNDer (or Zunderund) APParatebau Gmbh in Nurnberg during 1917. Although another German giant, Krupps, was involved with the initial set up of Zundapp, they withdrew at the end of WWI when munitions manufacture ended. Another Zundapp founder,…

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1949 AB Jackson 99cc To view other content within this reference work, you must be a subscriber. ABC Skootamota 1919-23 UK Best of a rash of primitive scooters built in response to an expected public demand for cheap personal transport after WWI. The Granville Bradshaw designed Skootamota comprises child’s scooter-like tubular steel welded frame, engine…

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