Police evaluation Terriers recalled

The letter from John Lines on page 38 of OBM (August) was of interest to me as I run the Tiger Cub and Terrier ‘Register of Survivors’, and was interested to see if any of the machines he mentions were listed in it.

Five of the eight Triumph Terriers delivered to the Chief Engineer at New Scotland Yard on May 26, 1955, including the one registered RLE 351, are among the machines in this group leaving Hendon Police College.

The Register currently lists roughly 11,500 surviving bikes, frames and engines, but I’m afraid none of the police bikes has shown up in the years since they were delivered from Meriden.

As John says, eight of them were sent for evaluation to ‘Chief Engineer, New Scotland Yard, Westminster, London SW1’ on May 26, 1955, and their serial numbers were T15 15346, 15380-3 and 15388-90.

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It might be worthwhile for any reader with a Terrier or spare Terrier crankcases to look and see if any of these numbers are still around.

I have attached two photos that might be of interest. Both contain the Terrier RLE 351 to which John refers, and he might even recognise some of the riders in the group leaving Hendon Police College.

Mike Estall,
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Many thanks for the information and superb pictures, Mike, and for any readers who might be interested, the eighth edition of The Triumph Tiger Cub Bible has just come out and is available either from Mike ([email protected]) or the publishers, Veloce Publishing (01305 260068 or [email protected]). – Ed

The Terrier and LE Velocette were in competition for police duties, and RLE 351 is seen in this comparison photo. It was the whispering LE that got the job!

Read more Letters, Opinion, News and Views in the September issue of OBM – on sale now!


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