GEORGE ORWELL'S MOTORCYCLES

In the waning days of the Vincent Motorcycle Co, 1955 to be exact, the producers of the film adaptation of George Orwell's classic '1984' utilized the services of the Vincent Owner's Club to provide a chilling mobile Thought Police force, filming their nearly-new Vincents in a bombed-out area behind Guildhall, London. The photograph above is from the September 1, 1955 issue of The Motor Cycle, which has a small feature on the motorcycles in the film.

The Thought Police, keepers of order and maintaining correct speech, thought, and behavior (the ultimate P.C. brigade - and did you know the term 'politically correct' comes from the Chinese Cultural Revolution in the 1960's?), rode the most sinister and imposing motorcycle available; Vincent Black Knightss (or Princes - can't tell the difference in the film, as the bike's identity has been removed; common before the days of 'pay for play' product placement in the movies). Vincent's new-for -'54 models had full fiberglass enclosure and fairings, and in their all-black guise from the factory certainly gave an impression of menace, which may look ungainly now, but in the day, was certainly futuristic and slightly unnerving (see below).

George Orwell was born Eric Blair, son of an English civil servant in Bengal, India. He was sent home to England for school; his prowess shone and he was given scholarships, landing him at historic Eton, where he evidenced a disrespect for the authority of his teachers (later writing the essay 'Such, Such Were the Joys' about his early school days). With his 'poor attitude', no scholarship for university study was forthcoming, and he joined the Indian Imperial Police, in Burma (India and Burma being colonies of England at that time). (Orwell can be seen below, the tall one!)

He grew to hate Imperialism, writing several essays at the time deeply critical of the hyporcrisy and brutality he witnessed (his first novel was 'Burmese Days'). He took the pen name George Orwell at this time, after the patron Saint George of England, and the Orwell River in Suffolk county.

While in Burma, he learned to ride an American military motorcycle (don't know what make!), and is reputed to have hunted tigers on it, using his Luger Parabellum pistol! According to 'The Unkown Orwell' (Stansky & Abrahams, 1972), the bike had 'four cylinders fore and aft'; this would have been 1922, so the selection of possible machines is limited - perhaps an ex-military Henderson such as the 1918 model above? Back in England, according to the same book, Orwell caught pneumonia while delivering the manuscript for 'Burmese Days' to his publisher, in the freezing rain on his motorcycle, December 1933.

The life of a writer was then as now a difficult financial path, and Orwell experienced waves of impoverishment, summarizing his experience in the 1930's (during the worst of the Depression) in his book 'Down and Out in Paris and London'. During this period of impecunity, he was occasionally homeless, contracted tuberculosis, refused to wear a warm overcoat, and was dogged by ill health for the rest of his short life.

In 1937, he volunteered to fight on the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War (above, Orwell is the tall one, his wife sitting below), against Franco's Fascists; Orwell joined the POUM (Worker's Party of Marxist Unification), a far-left and anti-Stalinist fighting group, which allied with the Anarchists to fight both the Fascists AND the Communist party (supported by Stalin and his secret police, regularly attacked the Anarchists and POUM). In June 1937 he and his wife fled Spain, narrowly beating the Soviet secret service which sought to kill him for being a Trotskyite. He shortly published the book 'Homage to Catalonia' about his experiences in Spain.

When WW2 began, he worked for the BBC Eastern Service (above, with fellow writer T.S.Eliot), an easy fit due to his early years spent in India and Burma, writing copy to convince Indians and East Asians to support the British war effort. He spoke of feeling like 'an orange that's been trodden on by a very dirty boot' for his distaste at working as a propagandist. After quitting in 1943 to write with the left-wing Tribune, he published 'Animal Farm', an allegory of Stalinist repression, in 1944, which was his first literary success.

From 1946-48 he lived in the village of Barnhill (below), on the island of Jura in Scotland while writing the novel '1984', an allegory of totalitarianism, and the use of language to shape thought and behavior. While living on Jura, he apparently rode an old Rudge ('four valves, four speeds' - an advanced bike... in 1926), which was noted as being unreliable in the extreme! A search for the motorcycle on Jura in later years reveals contradictory stories; one claims the Rudge was scrapped after being sold to a boat captain. Another tale by writer and cartoonist Jock Macneish claims the Rudge was left in a hedge when Orwell left, and it sits there on Jura, rotting, to this day! (It's a great story, click here).

'1984', of course, became Orwell's best-selling and most famous book, with much of his language, peculiar to his vision of English Socialism (or Ingsoc in the novel's 'Newspeak'), becoming part of everyday use even today - 'big brother', 'thought police', 'war is peace', etc, and the implied (and chilling) analysis that in modern war, "Victory is not possible; the war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous...".

Orwell died of complications of tuberculosis at the age of 46, in 1950. He didn't live long enough to see the film adaptation of '1984', nor the début of the Vincent Black Knight.

(The above images are all 'copyleft', for non-commercial reproduction)

JAY LENO'S VINCENT SPECIAL

Special to the Vintagent by John Joss

Jay Leno is exactly as he appears: a decent, straight-ahead, clever man with a lifelong passion for motorcycles. He invited me to his home in 90210 to interview and photograph him. Because I had to take a large camera case (Nikons, lenses, etc.) I had to drive in my antique Honda Civic. When I arrived he was waiting at his front gates.

"Jay," I asked, "is it okay to drive a Honda Civic in Beverly Hills? Will I be arrested?" He looked around furtively: "If we get it inside quickly they may not see you and you'll get away with it."

We entered the immense mansion and he led me into the living room, with 15'-high ceiling dominated by a huge TV screen. "Mavis is out," he said. "We can play a little." He put on a video of a Shuttle launch and cranked up the volume until the whole damn place shook. It was . . . terrific.

Then we went outside to see his latest (then) toy, his newly finished Vincent Special. I took a shot of it, several actually, and it's a gem. A Rapide engine tucked into a custom frame with Featherbed-like rear end, a Ceriani front fork with single big disk, and perfect paint. He kick-started it and it took first kick (he had not warmed it up), and grinned like a madman. The Vincent specialist in L.A. whose name I do not remember (old age, but someone who

reads this will know) created the machine and it is deeply desirable.

Leno the man is the guy you'd like to ride with, hang out with and talk to about bikes. His enthusiasm is 100% genuine and every time I see him he remembers me--time, place, bike, everything--even though he lives a life of intense and complex demands. Maybe we can have him cloned so that he can spend time with bikers AND enjoy his entertainment life. If anyone who reads this would like me to scan and post some of the other pix, about 20 in all, I will be happy to do so. (email John here)

THE BLUE BIKE

Marty Dickerson's 1948 Vincent Rapide Series B racer is coming up for auction at the Petersen Automotive Museum in LA by Bonhams this weekend, and I'm very curious to see how it does, given that so many historic Vincents have been 'released' recently. This machine has a unique history, which should attract plenty of interest come Saturday.

Dickerson traded a Triumph Tiger 100 for this machine in 1948 (plus some cash no doubt), having been entranced by the publicity already generated in road, racing, and speed trials of this model. Shortly after purchasing the machine, Marty (already a familiar face at the Southern California Speed Trials) made several runs at Rosamund Dry Lake at over 120mph - clearly he had purchased 'a good one'. The Rapide was in full road trim, to boot.

During the summer of 1949, Vincent's West Coast distributor, Mickey Martin, hired Dickerson to make a 'tour' of potential Vincent dealerships in the Southwest. I'll quote the catalog here, as the writer (Somer Hooker?) has produced some fine prose:

"... his lengthy itinerary of both planned and unscheduled visits, calling by the stores of bemused dealers, unwittingly laid the foundations of Mary Dickersn's future reputation. Here's how. Inevitably, it seemed, when riding to a halt ouside the shop of a town's cycle trader, he'd almost certainly be shortly challenged to a drag contest by one or other of the community's 2- or 4- wheel Hot-Shoes. Almost invariably, of course, that town's mechanical mafia had failed to recognize or fully appreciate the machine on which Marty had ridden-into-town! In those days of course unofficial drag racing was a widely accepted pastime, often overlooked by tolerant authorities; suburban street drags were part of small city culture amongst the Under-25s. Throughout the hot, dusty southwest Marty became known as The Stranger. More importantly, while participating in these spontaneous sprints - irrespective of how tired or unprepared he and the Vincent may have been - he was never once outrun!"

Dickerson became a Vincent dealer himself, and set about modifying his Rapide for racing (see lower photo), and high speed runs on the Salt; changing the crankcases, porting the cylinder heads for larger carbs and 2" exhaust pipes, removing the road equipment, trading the original Brampton girders for Girdraulics, etc. In 1952, his efforts were rewarded with the AMA Class 'C' record (meaning - 'pump' fuel, comp. ratio limited to 8:1, upright sitting position) at 141.72mph, and the following year managed 147.56mph, a record which remained unbroken for the next 20 years.

Dickerson also raced and speed-trapped a 500cc Grey Flash, rode Joe Simpson's Black Lightning to 163.31mph at Bonneville in '63, and is a legend among Vincent aficionados. The 'Blue Bike' is claimed to be in 'as last raced' condition, with all timekeeper's seals etc intact.

Estimated sale price is $380,000 - 500,000. I predict it will fetch over $400k, but not $500k. I'll hazard a guess at $420,000, purely on past prices, but a few things have changed recently (see below), and the big question remains; who will be bidding? Probably not someone in the room... the supercharged Lightning which sold last week had only one serious bidder, and it was evident to onlookers at Stafford that the reserve was lowered during the course of the auction via phone call, as it was clear the Vinnie wasn't going to sell with the original reserve. I've been queried by one deep-pockets motorcycle collector - how many really big bidders are out there right now for top-notch motorcycles?

One x factor which has arisen this week is the value of the dollar - it's trading today at £1 = $1.60, and 1euro = $1.28. The dollar hasn't been this strong for a several years...which has to be a factor at the upper level of the market. It was only a few months ago that it took fully $2 to buy a pound - that's a big change.

Another x factor... has to be the 'holy grail' issue. There is ONE Vincent which is coveted above all others, one of the top 3 most famous motorcycles of all time (okay - the TE Lawrence Brough SS100, and the 'Captain America' Harley chopper), and that's the Rollie Free 'bathing suit' Vincent. I have heard rumors that this machine is available, and/or will be coming up for sale. If I'm hearing it, then the likely buyers are hearing it too, and may be hedging their bets this weekend.

Interestingly (as mentioned on the supercharged Vincent update), sales of collectible 'second-tier' machines in the 'under $100,000 range' continue to be strong, indicating general good health of the Vintage Motorcycle market.

I'll be visiting the bike in LA before it goes to a new home, and will post further photos.

AMAZING SUPERCHARGED VINCENT BLACK LIGHTNING

Bonham's is selling (on October 19th at Stafford) the original/unrestored ex-Reg Dearden supercharged Black Lightning, which was built in the factory under direct supervision of Phil Vincent (with a little help from George Brown et al). Dearden decided to make an attempt at the Motorcycle Land Speed Record in 1949, spurred on by a prize offered by The Motor Cycle for a successful all-British M.L.S.R., with a prize of £500 (the Vincent cost Reg £400).

Realizing that the 'standard' Lightning was unlikely to break the record, he commissioned the factory to supercharge the machine in 1950 - a job which entailed fitting a Shorrock blower (and attendant 'plumbing'), the extension of the drive side crankshaft and gearbox mainshaft to accomodate the blower drive, the creation of a one-off clutch to handle the power, panel-beating that outrageous petrol tank (derived from a Grey Flash item), and extending the 'chassis', with strengthened plates etc, by 6". The work took about 6 months in all, and cost Dearden several thousand pounds.... 'speed is expensive'.

The Vincent was shown at various events when completed (see pic of the bike atop a pile o' Vinnies at the Kings of Oxford dealer, in 1950), but Dearden's attention was increasingly occupied by his sponsorship of a fleet of Manx Norton racers (with as many as 20 riders!), and the bike remained unused until 1953, when it was announced that Les Graham (former World Champion) would ride the machine at Bonneville. Unfortunately, Graham was killed in the Senior TT that year, and the trip to Bonneville never materialized.

The Lightning was thrashed a few times at Pendine beach, where it was timed at 150mph before the big end went (still crowded rollers or the aluminum cage?). When repaired at Stevenage, a factory tester had the pleasure of riding the beast on the road, with a silencer! Other rides brought other problems, such as engine shaft failure, and all the while the NSU factory was setting and re-setting records at Bonneville with their streamlined 500cc dohc machines.

By 1956, NSU brought the record to 211.40mph (as noted in a previous post), and Dearden was inspired once again to make a trip to Bonneville. He planned to fly the Vincent in his own Cessna, but the Civil Aviation Authority, in its wisdom, refused to allow a small passenger plane to carry such cargo, and all hope of the Lightning hitting the salt was extinguished. The bike sat until 1970 when Eric Biddle purchased the machine, and it has passed through a few hands since then.

In the end, the bike remains a mystery, having only a few hundred (or less?) miles, and has never been stretched out fully on beach, salt, or track. But, it has remained completely original while passing through various hands, and is fully functional today. A curious but compelling prize, and let's hope it remains in the public eye... estimated price is £320,000. I will be very interested to see how recent financial events will affect the auction price; my two cents - this machine will set a new record for a British motorcycle at auction, but will not break the $500,000 mark. Anyone laying odds?

MORE VINCENT FACTORY PHOTOS

When a thread begins, who knows where it will end? Dave the photo pirate sent these shots of the interior of the Vincent factory at Stevenage, ca. 1947/8 as the forks awaiting attention are Bramptons, and there are no black engine cases to be seen, so this is pre-Shadow.

It's clear that these are 'staged' photos, taken by a professional photographer, perhaps for catalog or promotional use. The factory has been scrupulously cleaned, and the engines, cylinder heads, chassis parts, etc, are nicely lined up and ready to assemble. As can be seen in my prior post on the Vincent factory, the real picture was much messier, with parts strewn about and surplus boxes serving as engine building stands.
I note that the motorcycle building benches have wheels so they can be moved - at the Velocette factory they used old flywheel halves for bench, dolly and cart wheels! But then, Veloce had been making bikes for a long time, and probably had a lot of old iron laying around.

The bottom pic is interesting; it's an Archdale drilling machine, which is set up to make the screw holes around the perimeter of the primary cover. Fresh castings on the left, drilled covers on the right. The work area isn't as tidy as the other photos, so this must have been a different photo session. Still, no workers in any of these images!

The photos remind me of those propaganda films from the 50's; everything squeaky clean and moving toward the Future; 'the Golden Land of Opportunity and Adventure', as Futurama at Disneyland used to say.

FIRST PRODUCTION VINCENT BLACK SHADOW

Regarding my earlier post showing the interior of the Vincent factory at Stevenage ca 1948, Somer Hooker emailed with an 'aha'; the very first production Vincent Black Shadow shown being assembled in the photo is in fact sitting in his garage! Nice to have an update of the 'where is it now' variety.

Somer writes; "Now I know why I saved Bowen's picture. I own the 1st Shadow!...If you look in the Vincent owner's manual it states Black Shadow production commencing with F10AB/1B/696. That's mine! The bike was shipped to Canada, wrecked, and almost turned into a Norvin. It was 60 years old April 14th."

Top photo shows the machine at the Legends concours in 2007 - it must have been taken early in the morning, with those long shadows and no other bikes around (except the Ewoks in the background). Second photo shows the bike at home, sorely in need of some air in the rear tire; pump it up and ride it, Somer, it's a beauty.

The first prototype Black Shadow was famously 'JRO 102' (English reg.), which still exists, and has engine # F10AB/1B/558 in frame R2549, and was completed on Feb. 16, 1948. During road tests, Charles Markham of Motor Cycling managed 122mph, a little shy of the claimed 125mph maximum, but other testers hit 128mph.

Notable features about the early Series B Shadows; the Brampton girder forks rather than the forged-aluminum blades ('Girdraulic' forks) of the more common Series C Shadows, and the deep pressed-steel case for their 150mph speedometer. The speedo face is different as well, being marked in '10mph' increments rather than the cleaner '20mph' stages on the later speedo with the curved back. The earlier item is chunky (as can be seen in the top pic), but very rare indeed.

Bottom pic is the 'birth photo' of Somer's bike, 60 years ago last month, shown in my earlier post. Through the blog, he's now connected with the son of the fellow shown assembling his motorcycle; such is the power of the internet to shrink the world.

Inside the Vincent Factory

The year is 1950, inside the assembly shop at Stevenage, and it tells a story about the state of British industry, and the now legendary Vincent factory. The factory building itself is obviously quite small, with natural skylighting (how different from today's big box ass'y plants) and a few flourescents hanging above - no task lighting at all. Clearly, each carpenter-built table is the responsibility of one mechanic, who assembles the machine from the store of spares behind. I would assume, like the rest of British motorcycle industry, that 'selective assembly' was the key to a good engine - if the part doesn't fit well, reach for another, perhaps it will fit better - the aged machine tools in use couldn't produce truly consistent machined parts, so minor variations in tolerance could make all the difference between a Rapide which might do 105 or 115mph.
Not that selective assembly was a bad thing - Ducati was still using the system on their 900ss in the 1970's!

The second photo shows the very first Series 'B' Black Shadow being assembled by Mr Bowens (with back to wall). Note high-tech, purpose-built assembly bolsters! Those blocks in use as engine supports are remainders from Vincent's war effort, and previously contained fuses (as in bomb).

I got a note from David Bowens, whose father is shown assembling the Shadow. According to David, in the top photo, the pile of bits in the foreground would have been non-fitting, rejected parts from the assembly job at hand, "hard facts which a lot of people don't like to hear; a lot of owners only want to hear fairy stories".

I have another take; it's enlightening to peer inside these buildings and see how our bikes were made - nowadays we see videos of modern, surgically clean factories with purpose-built fixtures and robotic tools. Any bike made in England before the 1960's was probably built in exactly the same manner as these Vincents, with each employees performing a range of tasks, such as building up an engine, or assembling the bike around the power train. The factories had no great reserves of investment capital to purchase the very latest and best in equipment, and used machine tools which likely dated from the 1920's (or even earlier, in the case of Veloce, who used belt-driven Victorian-era lathes).

Thus, what you have, if you own such a machine, is a hand-made, or better yet, a machinist-made motorcycle, a true tool-room special, with each part individually chosen or sweated over or cursed into shape. There was no soulless robotic assembly line which spat out a shiny new Vincent or Norton or Rudge, each of these vintage machines had the workers' hands all over their insides and outsides. And, at the end of this manual effort, the motorcycles performed, and still perform, with thrilling speed and roadworthiness. I see no shame in the factory using old ammo boxes and carpenter-built benches, in fact just the opposite; I see glory.

FLAT OUT!

I've just ordered a copy of Jerry Hatfield's new book, 'Flat Out! The Rollie Free Story'. Here's a link to Jerry's Blog about the book, where he includes a few photos which he didn't find in time for publication. Rollie Free led a very interesting life before he rode 'that Vincent' into eternal fame, in his swimming trunks. I'm really looking forward to reading it, and will alter this post with a review when it arrives. In the meantime, I encourage you to buy his book too!

Publications like this as a rule have very small production runs, usually only 1000 books, and when they're gone, they can be very difficult to track down again, and they usually cost a whole lot more (try to find a copy of 'Henderson' or 'American Racer' for less than $400).

Top pic shows one of the 'unsuccessful' speed runs at Bonneville, Sep 13, 1948, with Rollie flat out on his Vincent Black Lightning, still wearing leathers. Later in the day he would ride the bike with only his helmet, swimming trunks, and sneakers (which were supposedly borrowed, and two sizes too big - he claimed they cost him 2mph!). The mountains of Utah dominate the background.

Second photo is Albert Held with Rollie's Vincent - Albert was 16 at the time. Lucky lad. The timing tower sits behind, and is where the most famous pic of Free was taken on his speed run.

Third pic is Rollie demonstrating how he 'got down to it' on the Lightning, and you can see that indeed he presents a very small frontal area to the wind. This photo was taken in Rollie Free's service station, back at home.

Last pic shows Rollie on an earlier run, still wearing his leathers, which have been damaged earlier in the day, and are repaired with duct tape - thus the light patch inside his leg.