Recommended reads

by


For the vast majority of us, the ongoing worldwide pandemic means that riding is not really an option. So, time to settle in a comfy chair, pour a glass and open a good book… Here’s few to get you started.

Words: JAMES ROBINSON

Colin Seeley
The machines,The magic, The man

Article continues below…
Advert

Enjoy more Classic MotorCycle reading in the monthly magazine.
Click here to subscribe & save.

This new publication comes with an immediate disclaimer – I put it together, so while I have of course read it, I did it while I was collating it.

Colin Seeley died earlier this year, leaving behind a legacy as one of those people who’d done so much; he’d been a racer, a dealer, a manufacturer, a team owner, plus all manner of non-motorcycling activities too, including running a Formula 1 team (for his teenage associate Bernie Ecclestone, no less) and superbly successful charity, in honour of his late first wife Joan.

This book doesn’t pretend to be the definitive story of Colin’s life, works and career; he’d already done that himself, with his two-volume autobiography, published in 2006 (part one) and 2009.

Article continues below…
Advert

What we have here is a largely pictorial work, drawing on the fabulous Mortons Archive, especially some of the lovely Nick Nicholls’ work – there’s some great colour action pictures, including Mike Hailwood in action on a Seeley G50 in the late 1960s and like-mounted Ron Chandler, also resplendent in colour, at the bottom of Bray Hill.

There’s plenty more too – including the great-looking Seeley Hondas of the 1970s – and some more modern pictures of Colin too, including when he was reunited with his father Percy’s Series A HRD Rapide at Stafford.

Having been fortunate to know Colin for the last decade and a half – during which we discovered we’d attended the same primary school, coincidentally! – it was lovely to put together, looking through some great images and finding out some brilliant facts.

Article continues below…
Advert

Call 01507 529529 or www.mortonsbooks.co.uk to order; it costs £7.99.

Read more Reviews, Letters, Opinion, News and Features at www.classicmotorcyle.co.uk and in the June 2020 issue of The Classic Motorcycle – on sale now!

Article continues below…
Advert

Advert
Subscribe to The Classic MotorCycle Magazine Enjoy more The Classic MotorCycle reading in the monthly magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Article Tags:

About the Author