c.1960 BSA C15 cutaway
Frame no. C15.21336/5 Engine no. None visible

The Winter Sale - including The National Motorcycle Museum Reserve Collection - Bicester Heritage|11 December 2020, 09:00 GMT|Bicester, Bicester Heritage

c.1960 BSA C15 cutaway
Frame no. C15.21336/5
Engine no. None visible

Presented without documents, this highly detailed cutaway version of BSA's best selling four-stroke model of the 1960s is purported to be a BSA factory engineers model. The VMCC kindly confirm that frame number C15 21336 was dispatched on the 9th November 1960 to the Earls Court Motor Show and is listed as a cutaway model.

The vendor knew it 30 years ago, when he was asked to mend the silencer so that it could be used on another machine; when he was offered the same machine recently, part of his limited restoration work was to open the same silencer up again and have it rechromed to match the rest of the bike.

It uses frame number C15.21336/5 but there is no engine number. It was not uncommon for such exhibition pieces to be built from parts not offered to the production line because of minor faults. The motorcycle has been inspected by noted restorer Graham Horne, who worked at BSA's Small Heath factory, and he considers it could be a factory production because of the standard of the work. It could fill a number of roles, either as an attraction in a store or museum, to attract visitors at any show or to be as subject material in lectures on the history of what was once the largest motorcycle factory in the UK.

Footnotes

As with all Lots in the Sale, this Lot is sold 'as is/where is' and Bidders must satisfy themselves as to the provenance, condition, age, completeness, and originality prior to bidding.

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