1957 BSA 500cc Gold Star

Registration no. HSV 652 Frame no. CB32 6561 Engine no. DBD34GS 2871

"Potent in appearance, with a massive square-finned alloy barrel and head, the first of the 1954 production BSA Gold Star Clubman's TT models, prototypes of which recently swept the board at Daytona, have started to come off the assembly line at Small Heath." – Motor Cycling.
While its trials and scrambles derivatives demonstrated the design's versatility by chalking up an equally impressive record in off-road competition, the 500cc DBD34 in Clubman's trim is for the majority of enthusiasts the epitome of the 'Goldie'. The DBD, the ultimate road going 500 Gold Star, appeared in 1956 when the famous RRT2 close-ratio gearbox and 190mm front brake became standard equipment. From then on BSA's perennially popular sporting single changed little until its much-lamented demise in 1963.

According to BSA's Despatch Book entries (copies supplied by the Gold Star & Rocket Gold Star Owners Club), this example consists of a frame that formed part of a CB32 (350cc) Clubman sent to W Collins in Truro, and the engine from a DBD34 Clubman sent to Bob Foster in Parkstone, both machines leaving the factory in June 1957. Purchased from a local auction house, the Goldie has not been run for 18 months and will require re-commissioning before returning to the road. Offered with a V5C document and the aforementioned dating letter.