Offered from the National Motorcycle Museum Collection, 1906 Quadrant 5hp Forecar

Registration no. JSL 479 Frame no. 66900 Engine no. 1955 and 1966

Saleroom notices

We are unable to locate the frame number. Since the catalogue went to press we have been contacted by one of the Quadrant's former owners, Dr Chris Brooks, who tells us that he bought the vehicle in a box of bits in 1969 from Peter Harper. Peter had bought the Quadrant from H F Smith. The Quadrant was missing the tank and all throttle, air, and ignition controls. Dr Brooks made all these and also fitted two hovercraft 6-volt ignition coils. The Longuemare carburettor was missing and one was found in North West London, which fitted perfectly. The oiling system was missing too and Dr Brooks found a three-way tap and an oil pump at Beaulieu and made all the plumbing from the tank to both engines. The engines are 450cc and 500cc in capacity and according to Dr Brooks is the only Quadrant known of with two different sized engines (at the time the Quadrants belonging to Billy Garrard and Roy Gilberts had both the same size of engine and non-detachable cylinder heads). The VCC and Sunbeam Motorcycle Club accepted this Quadrant as 1904 when the engine numbers were examined (however, see VCC Report below). Dr Brooks first ran the Quadrant with no tank and a plywood platform at Syerston Airfield in 1970. He used a Mysoline tin to contain the petrol and an ear syringe to pump oil into the engines. The first time the engines started the end sheared off the starting handle. Dr Brooks had to take the gearbox apart to have a half-inch socket set stem fitted and to manufacture a support for a new starting handle: a socket set ratchet handle. Two P&H Loton oil side lamps were fitted (found at a flea market in Ellesmere Port) and the Quadrant was ready to go complete with tin trunk and umbrella stand. On its first London to-Brighton, the Quadrant got there in around seven hours, its slowness caused by the loss of inlet valve springs and a lack of power. To improve performance, a new inlet manifold was made together with complete new housings for the inlet valves, the latter being remanufactured in titanium. According to Dr Brooks, the Quadrant ran beautifully after that once Walter the cobbler in Langley Mill had relined the cone clutches. The Quadrant has three finisher's awards for the London-to-Brighton VCR (1972, 1973 and 1974). In 1975 Dr Brooks gave the Quadrant to his friend Raymond Ainscoe when he emigrated. He says: "It was a huge amount of effort to restore her to be able to make her function and not just a museum piece and was wonderful fun." Veteran Car Club Report – Case No. 866/98: "This vehicle has been known to the Veteran Car Club for a number of years, in fact DCF received a Dating Application during June 1977 from Paul G. Dixon and it has been allowed to run in the Brighton a number of times. The original application was not completed as the applicant did not provide the information requested at the time. When a new application was received, the previous notes were examined and a number of areas of doubt arose. The first obvious doubt was the date of 1904 which had been allocated to it by DCF many years ago. The Quadrant Carette with wheel steering was not introduced until late in November 1904 and the model continued to be available until at least 1907 with very little in the way of obvious changes. The doubts were compounded by the fact that the buff logbook [NB no longer present with the vehicle] had recently been passed to the Secretary of the Veteran Car Club for safe keeping and this clearly annotated that the vehicle was first registered on 14th January 1907. This date has been verified as being correct by David Hales. (The original owner was C. R. Booth, Tudor House, Mickleton, Glos.) The entry states that the vehicle is a 6hp model whereas the present application suggests a 5½hp model." The resolved application, determining the date of manufactures as 1906, was completed in 1998 when the Quadrant was owned by Bill Cooke. Bill Cooke sold the machine at a Brooks auction where it was purchased by Brian Verrall, and it later passed to the NMM. Please click the link to view the walkaround video of Lot 725: click here