c.1927 Grindlay Peerless S.O.4 Model 350 'Dog Ear' single-port JAP

*Rare opportunity to acquire a Grindlay Peerless
*Dog Ear JAP Engine

A short-lived marque, Grindlay Peerless, based in the Midlands' industrial city of Coventry – precisely Melbourne Works, Shakleton Road in Spon End - is nevertheless guaranteed its place in motorcycling history thanks to works rider/tuner Bill Lacey, who in August 1928 became the first rider of a 500cc machine to exceed 100 miles in the hour on British soil. Like many production Grindlays, Lacey's bike used a twin-port JAP engine and the marque also fitted Barr & Stroud, Rudge Python and Villiers power units.

Grindlay Peerless had started out as sidecar makers in the 1910s, the company known as Grindlay Sidecars, the two Grindlay brothers, Alfred Robert and William John, having taken over a company called Coventry Motor and Sundries Co. from a William Edward Mann. The sidecars were well known for their very high quality. In the years of WWI, the Grindlays and Thomas Edward Musson merged their companies together into Musson & Grindlay. In 1923 this partnership dissolved and the Grindlays joined with an Edward Peerless with the intent of manufacturing complete motorcycles. The company entered the 1930s with a varied line-up of models ranging from a 172cc Villiers-powered lightweight to a 750cc JAP-engined v-twin.

It cannot be over emphasized that the Grindlay sought and manifested the highest of quality standards with their elegance, their finish and the use of nickel, cadmium and leather (as a saddle covering) for their innovative engineering and design achievements.

Thereafter the range was gradually reduced in number and only five models were offered in 1934, the last year of the company's motorcycle production. By the outbreak of WWII after hard times in the Great Depression they were gone. Today, the Grindlay Peerless is a very rare machine.

Here offered is the S.O.4 Standard Model 350 with the 'dog ear' JAP single-port exposed overhead valve single with Amal carburetor and BTH magneto. Not a racing model itself, it nevertheless has the 'proper' cylinder head known affectionately as the 'dog-ear.' From a previous Bonhams catalog comes this superb quote; 'The special cylinder head that made the win! Complete with AMAC TT carb, the dog-ear JAP motor was the finest racing engine of its day.' This J A Prestwich engine with Burman gearbox provides spirited performance even today.

Most likely restored and then purchased in 2003 from British motorcycle expert, Gordon Cansdale, from New South Wales, Australia, the bike remains in excellent condition today although conventional wisdom suggests that the usual safety checks be undertaken before further use. Any previous registration, together with ownerships, is unknown.