TASTY MACHINE
The photograph was taken by my grandad in the 1930s somewhere around Winchester. The story goes that he and my grandma had parked the bike and stopped for lunch. On their return they discovered a donkey tucking into the bike’s seat – it had already devoured half of it. On the way home they took a wrong turning and ended up competing in a hillclimb in which, according to my grandad, they achieved a very credible time. The bike is an Ariel – can you identify the year and model, and the sidecar? Alan Dawson, Windermere Hi Alan, good story – and photo. I can’t help with the sidecar, but the bike is an Ariel as you say, and Ariels of this period are fairly easily identified by annual changes. The large petrol cap, just visible, combined with the 1927-on shaped tank makes it a 1929 model – confirmed by the UU 404 registration, a London series that commenced in May that year. The twin-port head and valanced
mudguards make it a Model F, I think, the more weatherproof mudguards making it the Deluxe model. It was the first year of Ariel’s recirculating oil system, as opposed to the old ‘total loss’ setup. At this time Ariel were producing very good motorcycles and the overhead-valve 500 was a powerful bike of the time, so I’m sure the hill climb story is perfectly true! Rick Parkington