Letters

I enjoyed the article ‘short and sweet’ on the BSA B25T in the April 2020 mag. It reminded me of a day out with my Father in the early 1970s that led me to a lifelong interest in Italian bikes, principally Ducatis! I can’t remember the exact year, but it must have been around 1972-ish,…

Continue reading »

I am Cyril James, now semi-retired, but still employed by Cross Manufacturing Company (1938) Ltd at the head office and works in Bath. I joined the company on August 26, 1957, as a trainee production engineer and retired from full-time employment, as head of production, in 2006. In 1959, as a teenager and a keen…

Continue reading »

With reference to Tim Britton’s ongoing project and losing things when moving house. I too have suffered the same agony. In 1984 we relocated, but only next door, so we took out two sections of fencing for the ‘removals.’ Straightaway, we had a really big garage commissioned, double width and 26ft long, intending to build…

Continue reading »

Reading the Percy Tait obituary (February 2020) reminded me of the various chats I had with Jaguar tester and legend Norman Dewis, who also passed away in 2019 – June 8 to be precise, at the age of 98. Norman and Percy’s paths often crossed when they were testing their respective products at MIRA (Motor…

Continue reading »

Martin Squires’ Sketchbooks are outstanding every month but that beautiful drawing of the Cotton Conquest in the January 2020 issue really took me back. Martin’s statement that a production of 200 might have been exaggerated makes the fact that my roommate purchased one new from Lee Cowie’s Motorsport in St Louis, Missouri, a special memory.…

Continue reading »

What could be better than reading TCM whilst being mid-Atlantic on the Queen Mary 2? I have owned my B31 since 1965 and it’s been recently restored to its original alternator specification, after I had converted it to magdyno in the 1960s as the old 6v alternator system kept boiling batteries. No voltage control then,…

Continue reading »

Having read the fantastic article in the March edition of The Classic Motorcycle, regarding the Sunbeam S7/S8, I can inform you that Lord Montgomery’s motorcycle is in the Louwman Museum in Den Hague, along with Winston Churchill’s Humber Pullman car. The museum is well worth a visit for anyone interested. This photograph was taken in…

Continue reading »

My name is Tim Millard and I am the current MD of Millard & Co Ltd, in Guernsey. I wondered if you would be interested to find out about a recent Facebook campaign we started, to find the oldest motorcycle shop in the world. The campaign has currently received about 40,000 views and shares worldwide…

Continue reading »

The Vincent Comet in the February 2020 issue prompted me to put pen to paper. In 1968, at the age of 17, I had the good fortune to buy a running Vincent Comet from my brother Ivor for the princely sum of £12 and 10 bob. My Norton Model 50 (the second bike I’d owned,…

Continue reading »

For a number of years I have been researching in the Nottingham Archives for information on Raleigh motorcycles and cars, with a view to writing a book on the subject. As is usual with research, I have come across a number of loose ends, as the archives are by no means complete, and wonder if…

Continue reading »