1928 Rex-Acme 347cc TT8

• One of the rarest of Rex Acmes
• Believed around 50 survive

Rex-Acme was a small manufacturer, based in Coventry and formed in 1921 after the amalgamation of the Rex and Acme brands. It dissolved in 1933. During the 1920s, the firm soon enjoyed competition success, with star rider Wal Handley to the fore; Handley won three TTs on Rex-Acmes, among many other successes.

After building a range of fairly standard-practice models with open-diamond frames, for 1928 Rex-Acme announced the TT8, featuring an unusual full cradle frame with two tubes going over the top of the petrol tank and a curved front downtube, bringing the engine (generally a Blackburne, with outside flywheel) forward towards the front wheel. The Burman gearbox is supported from underneath, rather than being top-hung like most contemporaries. The intricate frame (featuring something like 58 joins) was apparently designed by Wal Handley, who became a director at Rex-Acme in his 20s. Forks and brakes are Webb. Carburettor is currently an Amal Type 6, but the correct Amac TT is offered with the machine.

Numbers built must have been minimal and there's just a small handful of TT8s in existence – one or two (possibly in the same ownership) in Australasia; one complete bike with a later four-speed gearbox and various other modifications/updates and which was previously owned by film star Ewan McGregor which now resides in Oxfordshire; another in mainland Europe (with a MAG engine); one in bits in the Midlands... And that would seem to be about it.

Teenager Harry Meagen won the 1928 Amateur TT on a Rex-Acme, most likely a TT8, although it may have used a Swiss MAG engine – with who Handley was involved; Meagen's bike was seemingly a 'works' effort, despite the Amateur rules... – but with this type of chassis. Meagen and the Rex-Acme (though this one a JAP-powered version, in the same chassis) would've won again in 1929, but were disqualified for 'outside assistance' having pushed in to win by 12 seconds; he'd earlier been helped by spectators.
In 1928, RU 6540 was bought new by Harry Vickers, a woodworker who lived in Bournemouth, and whose brother had a Blackburne-powered Cotton. There's a picture of Harry on the Rex-Acme outside his house (103 Markham Road, Winton, Bournemouth, then Dorset, now Hampshire); the TT8 was registered on 28th January. Harry had the TT8 for some time – there's a copy of a 1936 insurance certificate, passed on by Harry's son, David, who reckoned he remembered the Rex-Acme as a little boy. David said he could remember it being in the family sawmill, covered in sawdust, probably around the time of the Second World War. It all becomes a little vague in the 1950s after Harry seemingly parted with it – David remembered going to the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu but he couldn't recall whether to see this bike, or just for his dad to show him a Rex-Acme. It's also been suggested in a note in the files (of which there are plenty, including lots of correspondence) the bike spent time on the Isle of Man, but again, unverified.

In the 1970s and early 80s, RU 6540 re-emerged and passed through a few owners, including well-known collector and enthusiast Paul Ingham, Pat Clarke in Hertfordshire, Mick Cox in Potters Bar and David Flake in Faringdon, Oxford, quite probably largely unrestored but in use (there's a picture of it at Banbury in the early 80s, as well as at Paul's), before finding its way to Swindon's Pete Sole, who paid £2000 for it in 1988. Pete restored it, after which it became a regular on the show circuit, winning trophies at lots of the big shows and featuring in various magazines. Marque specialist Eddie Collin visited Pete to inspect the bike when it was in bits.

This bike has 'Rex-Acme' cast into the mag chain cover which the other TT8s extant don't seem to feature; it also has 'TT8' stamped on things like the primary chainguard bracket. In Pete's ownership, it was featured in various magazines (The Classic MotorCycle, August 1990, when the current custodian first saw it; British Bike magazine, November 1993, and Old Bike Mart, 1998), had at least one trip to the Isle of Man and undertook several Banbury Runs. There are lots (two folders) of magazines, correspondence and photographs, which will come with the machine. After Pete Sole received a terminal cancer diagnosis, it passed into present ownership in 2009.
In 2010, it suffered a serious engine failure, which resulted in a comprehensive rebuild by BSA Gold Star specialist Dave Flintoft, which is fully documented (copy on file). Since then, the bike has taken part in the gruelling Irish National rally several times, as well as Banbury Runs, Festival of 1000 Bikes, the Kop Hill Climb and lots of other events. It has won many trophies and prizes over the years, wherever it has appeared. After the petrol tank was damaged by ethanol, it was repainted by Clive White at Rapier Paintwork. The Rex went into storage at the start of the pandemic, and though it has been started a couple of times, it's not been used since 2019.
In Roy Bacon and Ken Hallworth's comprehensive book The British Motorcycle Directory it states: "Handley won the Lightweight TT in 1927 and, for 1928, the 348ccc Model TT8 was offered with a duplex cradle frame and specially tuned Blackburne engine based directly on the Handley racing machines." In his biography of Wal Handley, None More Brave, John Handley, as well as publishing a rare, catalogue picture of a TT8 writes, quoting the maker, of the model '[being] produced under the personal supervision of our Mr W L Handley.'

In a road test (actually of a MAG-powered example) in the May 16, 1928, edition of The Motor Cycle (copy on file) there's a line which says '...the 1928 TT Sports model...has been completely redesigned under the personal supervision of Wal Handley in light of his experience in the Isle of Man and elsewhere.'

Rex-Acmes were only made for just over 10 years. Marque expert Eddie Collin (who wrote a self-published book on the machines; copy included) reckoned 'around 50' survived, though the number may be higher. But the TT8 is arguably the rarest (and perhaps the prettiest) of all Rex-Acme models, so this represents a potentially one-off opportunity to acquire a stunning vintage motorcycle.
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