VIVACIOUS ON A VINCENT
Attached are two photos of my mum and dad from around 1950. Mum, who is now 89 years old, came up with the registration number LYV 310, saying it was on their old Vincent. I checked the reg, and it’s now on a 1951 Vincent Rapide, although as her photos confirm (see right) it was definitely on their 500 Comet which they used to tour Europe on their honeymoon! They asked a guy called Ken Craven to make some luggage boxes for it, which he did (I have pics of these, too). I think that was the start of Craven luggage as a business! Questions for Rick: first, would their old Vincent have been scrapped to lose the number? (I am glad it is back on another Vincent.) Second, could you identify the bike in the other picture, CHU 204, please – is it a New Imperial?
Mum would often go up to bikers, saying: “Oh, I do like a bike,” and start chatting to them – and thanks to all those guys, because you were always courteous to her! I am 64 and still ride a bike (currently a GPZ500S). Could you please say hello to mum – Joan Thompson – for me? It would make her day. My best wishes to all who still enjoy their bikes.
Hi Carol – and Joan, who I must say looks very stylish in the Vincent photo! The Vincent number actually dates from Summer 1951. The Vincent frame is the same for the Comet and Rapide and it was quite common to convert singles to twins. By the mid-’60s, Vincents were just unfashionable old bikes. The twin engines were still valued for their size and power, however, and were fitted into grasstrack racing sidecars or Norton frames to make Norvin café racers. By the 1980s, the ‘classic’ market had elevated Vincent twins to a level where it was viable to break up a Norvin and fit the engine to a Comet to make a Rapide, so my guess would be that LYV 310 is still the same bike, but now fitted with a Rapide engine. The bike with mum and dad aboard is indeed a New Imperial dating from 1936 and Bristol-registered. It’s the Model 100 – a sports bike made for one year only and based upon the company’s ‘Grand Prix’ model racers. Hope this helps and all the best, Rick Parkington