An SOS for any SOSs

My birthday is January 15 and my father said that if I came in the top three at the end of the autumn term, he would buy me a motorbike for my birthday.

I worked hard revising and came second. Yes, he kept his word and bought for me a ladies’ push bike, complete with basket – but in the back wheel was a Cyclemaster. “Now,” he said, “get used to that and get some road experience and I’ll get you something better.”

At the end of February he sold my bike to a neighbour for £1 12s 6d.

We looked at a few motorbikes and he decided to buy me a 250cc British SOS. He took me out on it for half an hour, showing me how to use the clutch lever, throttle hand twist grip, foot brake and foot gear change. In the post-Second World War and late 1940s there was very little traffic and I soon got the hang of the SOS.

Enough of me, now the bike. The SOS was a water-cooled twin twostroke. The exhausts were upswept and it had girder forks, of course. The wheels were fitted with big balloon-type tyres, a bit like the Sunbeam S7. The whole bike was painted black and it was hand built. Apparently only two per month were made and it was a lovely motorcycle.

I’m now in my 70s and frequent several car and bike shows and often talk to owners of prewar bikes but no one has ever heard of an SOS.

My father was a Halifax and Lancaster pilot in Bomber Command in the Second World War but he managed to swap 20 Senior Service cigarettes for a long black leather coat off of a Gestapo prisoner-ofwar. His flying helmet and goggles he had kept after the conflict. So the leather coat, helmet and goggles were my biking clothes.

I kept the SOS until September and then Dad and I went to Pride & Clarke and partexchanged the SOS for an ex-WD 350cc Royal Enfield. My dad was allowed £4 18s 11d on the SOS and the Royal Enfield was £9 10s; Dad paid the £4 difference. The Royal Enfield was complete to Army spec, panniers and all.

My only regret is that during several house moves photographs of me sitting on the SOS seem to have been lost. I wasn’t too bothered about the photos of the Royal Enfield – they’re quite common!

At the beginning of the autumn term, the same challenge and agreement was made again, but this time I actually came first in the end of term exams. Father sold the Royal Enfield for £8 12s 6d and, on my 17th birthday, bought me a 1935 Rover 14 sports saloon for £22. It was a real quality motor and the beginning of my four-wheel days, but, over the years, I have always owned a bike. (My motto is ‘once a biker, always a biker’.)

I do hope your readers find this interesting and I find the Old Bike Mart an excellent publication and very informative. Incidentally, are there any ex-SOS owners out there?

David A Davies, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex

Originally SOS stood for Super Onslow Special and the clue is in the name – these good quality and well-regarded machines were made by one Len Vale-Onslow. He began production in 1927 and, in 1933, sold the manufacturing rights to Tommy Meeten, a former TT and ISDT rider and holder of several world speed records. The slogans ‘So Obviously Superior’ and ‘So Often Successful’ were also used to explain the acronym. Production ceased in 1939 and the factory was bombed and much of the stock looted, so that was the end of SOS. Pictured above is the late Len Vale-Onslow on one of the machines of his making.