Letters

After the recent letters and articles about the Royal Enfield GP5 raced by John Swannack in the 1960s, I felt it appropriate to contact OBM. I still have programmes from Cadwell Park showing John in the results in 1966 and 1967. When I first saw a GP5 I thought how superb it was, and when…

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The photo in last month’s OBM of a group of flat-tank enthusiasts outside a Hunter’s Lodge Inn was taken at Priddy, Wells, Somerset BA5 3AR, and the chap on the far right is the late Bob Derrick who, along with his wife Marcia, started Classic Transfers. Marcia still carries on this thriving business, which was…

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I’m writing on behalf of a friend to see if any OBM reader can identify the motorcycle in the accompanying photo. I apologise for the picture quality, but the original is only about passport size. The lady asking the question is the rider’s great-granddaughter, and the only thing she knows about the bike is that…

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I noted with interest the Victor Horsman photo sent to OBM (December) by Bruce Preston, but was rather surprised by the apparent lack of response to the statement that Victor was a “Brooklands exponent and tuner”, and maybe the accompanying photos and information will go some way to redress the balance. I have pulled some…

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From 1963 until 1968, I worked for Henstock’s of Mansfield, a large motorcycle dealership employing around 15 staff, as manager of their well-equipped workshop, and as part of the deal Don Henstock agreed to buy racing motorcycles for me to compete on in their name. In 1963 he bought me a new Greeves Silverstone on…

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I was interested to see the article about Lomaxes, of which I’ve owned three, in the last issue. Are they a motorcycle, and if so, is my similarly converted but somewhat nippier ‘Tritanic’ Mini three-wheeler? B180 CGF started life as a 1985 998cc Austin Mini that was acquired by Anthony Anchors of Newbury. He built…

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After three years of hard work, my partner and I finished our latest project, the rebirth of an old lady who’d been born in 1942 – an Indian motorcycle (or rather a collection of parts described as a motorcycle). We spared no effort in making this machine one of a kind, a bike to turn…

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I was very interested to see the article about the green Velocette MAC restored by Derek Manders in OBM (January), and initially thought it was mine! If you are able to forward it, I thought Derek might be interested in a photograph of my own 1955 green MAC which I bought almost six years ago.…

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I enclose two photos which I took in 1966 and which, I hope, will help me find a great friend from that time. His name is Geoff Davis, and when I last saw him during the early 1980s he was a ship’s engineer, and I think he lived in Portsmouth or Plymouth. In the photo…

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After reading John T Walker’s enquiry last month about the Zundapp 601 twin that he brought back from Germany in 1964 after serving there in the Army, I bought that very machine from a man who lived in Shoreham, West Sussex, in 2004, and owned it until 2006. While going through my old photos a…

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