Download - BMCT News Summer 2009
marque‟s sales record in the UK was
unimpressive, the oddball looks and the
British motorcyclist‟s suspicion of new
technology and two strokes in general
meaning the EMC wasn‟t that favourably
received. There was also an issue with pricing
- at £191 it was £12 more than the highly
respected Velocette KSS. The model did quite
well in the export markets, however, with
product-starved post war Europe taking fair
numbers of the machines, but this wasn‟t
enough, and by 1953 the lack of sales success
meant the closure of the Park Royal factory.
This wasn‟t the last we‟d hear of Dr Ehrlich,
however. He went on to a career with De
Havilland but kept his interest in bikes, and
the EMC name reappeared on a 125 cc
racing two stroke in the late nineteen fifties,
ridden by some of the top riders of the day.
Mike Hailwood even took one to third place in
the 1961 125cc World Championship. Once
more, EMC motorcycles faded from sight as
Dr Joe busied himself designing and racing
Formula Three cars, but in the eighties he was
back on the motorcycle racing scene turning
the Waddon Rotax machine into a race
winner and taking the honours in four Light-
weight TT races. In his later years Ehrlich was
heavily involved in alternative engine
technology, developing the „Environmental
Engine‟ with variable compression and
capacity, said to improve fuel economy and
emissions. He died in 2003 aged 89 without
ever seeing the engine adopted for commercial
use. Our members can now see the EMC for
themselves free of charge at the London
Motorcycle Museum in Greenford.
The BMCT‟s latest acquisition is
an interesting 1947 EMC 350cc Mark I,
manufactured by the Ehrlich Motor Co. at
Park Royal, north-west London. The
founder of the company, Dr Josef Ehrlich,
fled to England in 1938 to escape the Nazis,
bringing with him a Puch based split single
two-stroke engine on which he had been
working. This engine was to form the basis
of the first machines to emerge from the
new EMC factory some nine years later,
development having been interrupted by the
war.
The split single was invented by
Alberto Garelli in 1912 but very few home
manufacturers picked up on the technology
at the time and it was left to Puch to develop
it further, which they did with some success,
actually winning the German Grand Prix in
1931 with their version of the engine. At
home, Trojan used a split single layout from
1913 in their two stroke motor car. Briefly,
it uses two cylinders with two pistons
sharing a common combustion chamber.
Externally it looks like a single cylinder
engine with one exhaust pipe, one carburet-
tor and one spark plug. The split single
system sends the intake fuel-air mixture up
one bore to the combustion chamber,
sweeping the exhaust gases down the other
bore and out of the exposed exhaust port.
The split single two-stroke thus delivers
better economy than the common forms of
two-stroke (and runs better at small throttle
openings) at the cost of an engine that is
heavier. The lubrication weaknesses of the
two-stroke remain, as does most of the
pollution. The problem of big-end
lubrication in the EMC engine is dealt with
by the provision of a pilgrim pump built
into the chain case which delivers more oil
when the engine was working hard than it
does on a small throttle opening.
The EMC frame is a neat duplex
affair with a bolted-on backbone of
manganese bronze which supported the
steering head. Dowty Oleomatic front forks
are employed, with a rigid rear end,
although plunger rear suspension was
offered from 1948. A Vincent type dual
front brake was also part of the original
spec, as was a four speed gearbox. Despite
this up to date specification the new
MARK ONE EMC IS THE TRUST’S LATEST ACQUISITION
BMCT News
Newsletter of The British Motorcycle Charitable Trust June 2009
Inside this issue:
New acquisition 1
Coventry to Brighton 2
1,000 Bikes 2
Banbury Run 2
New Members 2
Stafford Show 3
Lowboy Norton 3
Members’ Bikes 4
Diary Dates 4
Trustees
Peter Wellings (Chairman)
Malcolm Aldridge
Steve Bagley
Paul Barnes
John Handley
Mike Jackson
John Kidson
Ian Walden OBE
Registered Office
Rodborough Court
Stroud
GL5 3LR
Registered Charity
No. 509420
Administration
Andy Bufton/MMS
Holly Cottage
Bishampton
Pershore
WR10 2NH
Contact details
Tel: 01386 462524
Mob: 07754 880116
E-mail: [email protected]
London Motorcycle Museum founder Bill Crosby with the EMC 350, the latest addition to their display.
Bright and early on a
gloomy Saturday in April
Coventry‟s Millennium
Place echoed to the sound of
veteran, vintage and classic
motorcycles and three
wheelers, as the VMCC‟s
annual Coventry to Brighton
Run got under way from
C o v e n t r y T r a n s p o r t
Museum. Organised once
again by the team of Ian and
Kathy Alexander of the
Warwickshire Section, the
event this year enjoyed
assistance from the BMCT
as we sponsored the tea,
coffee and bacon baps for
the competing riders. Thus
replete, some 74 entrants set
off for Brighton via an in-
teresting route, arriving in
Brighton some hours later.
On Sunday the remaining
participants reassembled in
Brighton to receive their
awards, before making their
way home. Our photos
show the first rider being
flagged away by the Mayor
of Coventry watched by
BMCT Chairman Peter
Wellings and Ian Alexander,
and some of the interesting
variety of machines taking
part in this year‟s event.
“The largest gathering of
Veteran and Vintage machines
in the world” is how the
VMCC are billing this year‟s
61st Banbury Run, starting
from the Heritage Motor
Centre at Gaydon on Sunday
21st June 2009. Apart from
the 600(!) entrants for the run
there will be club stands and
the Banbury Autojumble to
interest the many spectators
who flock to this event to see
rare and sometimes unique
bikes take part in the run
which takes in some
challenging roads in the north
Cotswolds. There is a gentler
route for older machines, and
part of the fun is watching the
intrepid riders take on the
challenge of Sunrising Hill,
a steep climb with a tricky
right hander part of the way
up. There is free parking near
the start, with a shuttle bus
into the site, and camping is
available on Saturday night.
For more details visit the web-
site www.banbury-run.co.uk
or contact the VMCC office
on 01283 540557.
the Past Masters parades on
Sunday, whilst also in action
during the weekend will be
Michael Dunlop on the
Norton Rotary plus Jim
Redman, Phil Read MBE,
Tommy Robb, Colin Seeley,
Malc Wheeler, Sammy Miller
MBE and Chris Vincent, to
name but a few. As usual
there are a wide variety of
other activities taking place
over the weekend, including a
Pre 65 Trial (Sat), Historic
Grasstrack (Sun), Firework
Spectacular (Sa t ) , an
Autojumble over the two
days, and live bands on the
Ace Café Rock „n‟ Roll stage
in the Real Ale bar, with stage
appearances from all the star
riders. Don‟t miss it.
Following the success of last
year when we demonstrated
our Triumph Bandit, we will
return to Mallory Park on
July 11th - 12th to show off
our stunning AJS S3 as
restored by Sammy Miller.
We hope to get to exercise
the machine in the track
sessions on Saturday, and
John Kidson will be in the
saddle for the Sunday
morning session. Our tent
will once again be in the
Avenue of Clubs up by the
hairpin, and we look forward
to welcoming BMCT
members old and new. For
this year the VMCC‟s guest
of honour will be Carl
Fogarty, who will be
entertaining spectators in
COVENTRY TO BRIGHTON RUN 2009
FESTIVAL OF 1,000 BIKES
Page 2 BMCT News
NEW MEMBERS
We welcome the following
new members and supporters
of our charity:
Peter Rice
Keith Pressey
Christopher Sealy
Linda Sargent
Martin Sargent
Michael Gardner
Norman Cass
Bill Hughes
Denise Cross
Guy Soden
Andy McCoye
Anthony Simmons
Keith Rance
Terrence Mooring
Kenneth Rance
David Gibbs
BANBURY RUN
A Coventry to Brighton gallery
There was mixed weather at
the end of April for those who
attended the Classic Motor
Cycle Show at Stafford, but
safe and dry inside the halls,
the entrants in the classic
concours event had no
concerns. As usual there were
some absolutely stunning
machines to be seen, with the
Best in Show award going to a
1911 Bradbury that looked as
if it had rolled out of the
showroom only yesterday.
Other noteworthy bikes in the
competition were a lovely
water cooled SOS (below)
that won an award for its lady
owner, and a delightful 1914
Victoria, a 269 cc Villiers
engined lightweight (right) that
was one of the few makes to
originate from Scotland,
Glasgow to be precise. Second
place in the vintage category
went to BMCT member
Richard Duffin‟s 1927 Scott
Flying Squirrel, and the award
for the best club stand went to
the Malmesbury Classic
Motorcycle Club. Another
BMCT member, Sammy
Miller, had his customary
clutch of machines on the
Mortons Media stand,
including the fantastic REG
250 (above) that has
emerged from his workshops
after restoration. The
attention to detail on this
machine has to be seen to be
believed. Over in the
Bonhams auction hall a
marathon sale took place on
Sunday afternoon, and
against the current trend
88% of the lots found new
homes – a quite remarkable
result. Top price for a British
bike was the £47,700 (est.
£26,000 - £30,000) paid for
a three-owner Vincent
Black Shadow that had lain
unused in a basement for
nearly thirty years. Of the
many Triumphs in the sale,
possibly the nicest was a
1948 Grand Prix (above) that
was brought back from Tas-
mania in 1955 and packed
away (literally) in boxes
until it was found in 2002
and reassembled using all
the original bits, right down
to the 50 year old tyres! This
time warp bike made
£17,250 under the hammer
(est. £8,000 - £12,000). With
a total of £1.4m worth of
bikes being sold the sale was
a resounding success.
Sammy it was in a poor state and
missing its fairing, but it was
rebuilt and joined the fantastic
display in Sammy‟s „Norton
Hall‟. Then, just recently Sam
received a call from an enthusiast
who had seen a photo of the low-
boy and recognised the fairing as
one that he had just bought in the
Autojumble at Stafford Show!
Needless to say, Sam jumped at
the chance to buy the fairing and
complete the unique machine
which is now fully finished and
on display at Sammy‟s museum
in the New Forest.
Some while ago Sammy Miller was
fortunate enough to acquire the 1959
Norton „Lowboy‟ from the late Bob
Collier, who had obtained it when
the Norton works at Bracebridge
Street, Birmingham closed its doors
in 1962. The machine was a product
of the ingenuity of Doug Hele, and
the objective was to lower drag and
frontal area by lowering the bike as
far as possible. Unfortunately the
resulting riding position was very
uncomfortable, the riders hated it,
and the Lowboy was only raced a
couple of times before being
shelved. When the bike came to
STAFFORD SHOW
SAMMY’S LOWBOY NORTON FINISHED AT LAST
June 2009
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
Would members please note
that BMCT membership cards
do not guarantee free entry to
our affiliated museums when a
special event is being held, for
example the Banbury Run or
Bonneville Anniversary which
are being held this year at the
Her i tage Motor Centre,
Gaydon. If in any doubt, please
contact the museum concerned
beforehand - telephone
numbers are on your
membership card.
Page 3
Sammy Miller with the newly re-faired ‘Lowboy’ Norton
Holly Cottage
Main Street
Bishampton
Pershore
Worcestershire
Phone: 01386 462524
Mobile: 07754 880116
Email: [email protected]
The British Motorcycle
Charitable Trust
Preserving the past...for the
future
The British Motorcycle Charitable Trust was originally founded in
1979 as a means of raising funds to establish what was to be-
come the National Motorcycle Museum at Bickenhill, near Bir-
mingham. By 1995 the museum was well established as a suc-
cessful commercial venture, and it and the charity became
separate organisations. A new board of trustees was appointed
to manage the assets of the BMCT as it pursues its objective to
preserve and promote British motorcycle engineering heritage.
Our funding comes from bequests, donations, membership fees
and interest on our reserves. We have an expanding network of
affiliated museums that we assist with projects, and we also
own a growing collection of rare and unusual machines which
can be seen on display at various locations throughout the coun-
try. Our members enjoy free entry to all our affiliated museums
for the very reasonable sum of £20 a year.
To enquire about membership or to find out about how you can
help the trust through a donation or bequest, please contact
Andy Bufton at the address on the left.
www.bmct.org
Edited and published by Matchless Management Services, Holly Cottage, Bishampton, Pershore, WR10 2NH
Visit our website at:
Who are we…?
An early navigation system fitted to one of the competing machines on the Coventry to Brighton!
SO WHAT BRITISH BIKES DO YOU OWN?
We‟d like to start a regular spot in the newsletter featuring the bikes owned
by our members, so please send in your shots, by e-mail or post, and share
your pride and joy with the rest of us. It doesn‟t have to be particularly rare or
in concours condition, but if there‟s a story to tell about it then so much the
better. Please send your photographs to Andy Bufton at the address above.
Here‟s one to get us started….a proud owner and his 1953 Ariel KHA Twin.
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
21 June - VMCC Banbury Run
Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon
5 July - Anniversary Celebrations
London Motorcycle Museum, Greenford
11-12 July - Festival of 1,000 Bikes
Mallory Park, Leicestershire
18-19 July - Pageant of Power
Cholmondeley Castle, Malpas, Cheshire
19 July - Speedway Day
Sammy Miller Museum, New Milton
9 August - The Graham Walker Run
National Motor Museum, Beaulieu
22-23 August - 50 Years of the Bonneville
Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon
30 August - All Day Breakfast
London Motorcycle Museum, Greenford