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LOT 797

Steam-powered Motorcycle with engine by Pearson & Cox Registration no. not registered Engine no. 1893

Sold for £2,530 inc. premiumLot to be sold without reserve
Lot 797

Steam-powered Motorcycle with engine by Pearson & Cox
Registration no. not registered Engine no. 1893

Steam-powered Motorcycle with engine by Pearson & Cox
Registration no. not registered
Engine no. 1893

This fascinating steam-powered 'special' was featured in the Croydon Advertiser newspaper when it was purchased by Vic Lane, owner of Normand Mobike of Bromley, circa 1979 (press cutting on file). The associated article states that the machine had been discovered by a scrap merchant buying from a factory in the Derby area; Vic Lane bought it from him for £1,000. Photographs on file show the machine raising steam and being ridden at Normand Motobike's premises. The article states, erroneously, that the engine dates from 1902, whereas most sources date Pearson & Cox's steam motorcycles as of circa 1912-1914 manufacture. Formerly apprentices at the General Engine & Boiler Company, Henry Pearson and Percy Cox set up shop in Shortlands, near Bromley, Kent and in 1908 introduced their first steam-powered automobile the following year. According to the Beaulieu Encyclopaedia of the Automobile 'production was only on a made-to-order basis and probably no more than 20 cars were made'. How many motorcycles were completed is anybody's guess, but it cannot have been very many. The company ceased trading circa 1917. This steam-powered 'special' is believed to have been built by a group of Derby apprentices; when is not known, but judging from the front end it must have been after WW2. Sold strictly as viewed.

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We have been unable to locate the engine number.

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