From The Archive

1973 Healey Square Four This Healey 100/4 may look familiar to longer-term readers of The Classic MotorCycle, and it was indeed featured previously on our pages, in the October 2002 issue. But the chance to put it through our photographic studio was too good to miss – it’s such an authentic, unrestored and important example…

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1968 Norton Fastback Commando Initially, the Commando was somewhat derided for its rubber mounted engine, swinging arm and rear wheel, and the styling as first displayed was toned down by the time production was started, with the first ones delivered in May 1968. Between then and 1978, when the last batch of Commandos was assembled…

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Triumph LS 350 For Triumph, all the ‘famous’ models were really 500s or above, through the Model A, Model H, Ricardo, Speed Twin, Thunderbirds, Bonnevilles. None of them were in the 350cc class, a category that for many manufacturers was crucial, particularly in the immediate postwar period. While BSA sold its B31 in vast numbers,…

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1962 Norton Dominator 650SS This Norton Dominator 650SS was restored in quick time by retired Stoke based engineer Bob Francis, who bought it at the Stafford October Classic Motorcycle Mechanics show in 2007. The Dommie was up, running and stunning in time for the April Stafford show. Bob, a long time Norton man, started his…

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1956 MV Agusta Modello CS Sport After WWII, a world championship was established for motorcycle racing, with the first season coming in 1949. Almost from the off – 1950 in fact – the name MV Agusta was represented, which was to remain the case for the next 25-plus years. During that quarter of a century,…

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Vincent Comet and LE sidecar Every Vincent Comet/Meteor owner will be fed up with the old chestnut ‘It’s only half a twin.’ Reintroduced for the 1948 season, the stock 499cc Comet pushed out a healthy 28bhp/5800rpm measured at the crankshaft, which compares favourably with 23bhp delivered by the AJS Model 18/Matchless G80, 24.6bhp from an…

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1951 BSA D1 Bantam 125cc I’m always wary when people have dogmatic opinions about motorcycles, and that applies whether they are unreasonably critical of other riders’ mounts, or unquestioningly convinced that the sun shines out of their chosen model’s exhaust pipe. So when someone informs me that BSA Bantams are the best things since sliced…

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1958 DMW Dolomite 11 Retired HGV driver Brian Tilke has a long association with DMWs. Brian explained: “In 1958, I owned this exact model. I was a teenager then and thought it was fab. Mine was in these colours; I had to pay an extra £4-17s-6d for that. I’d passed my test in 1955 and…

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1947 Douglas T35 Despite its loyal and dedicated workforce – headed by prewar Douglas legend and TT winner Freddie Dixon – the firm rather stumbled from crisis to crisis, though gained much needed revenue and work by manufacturing under licence Vespa scooters, from 1951. There were plans for the 1957 season, centring on the new…

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