The Anthony R. East Classic Motorcycle Collection, 1968 Greeves 246cc 24DF Police Motorcycle

• One of four supplied to City of London Police
• Pictured in Greeves The Complete Story by Colin Sparrow
• Authentic police equipment

Greeves' unorthodox trademarks of a cast beam 'down-tube' and rubber-in-torsion leading-link fork proved adaptable to almost all forms of motorcycle from humble commuter to clubman's road-racer, but it was the firm's off-road products which really put it on the map, generating valuable publicity that helped sell the roadsters. Less well known is the fact that Greeves supplied motorcycles for use by the police, the rare example offered here being one of a batch of four 'VJJ'-registered machines supplied to the City of London Police in October 1968. By this time Greeves had effectively abandoned the roadster market to concentrate on their competition models.
Villiers having by this time ceased to supply engines, Greeves had to purchase some new-old-stock 35A units from Sharpe Commercials, makers of the by-then-defunct Bond Minicar. As the police needed extra generating capacity to power their radios, these engines were fitted with Dynastart units. The quartet of 'VJJ' police motorcycles and their riders, with Tower Bridge in the background, is pictured in Colin Sparrow's book Greeves The Complete Story (page 121).

The photocopy of a buff logbook on file gives the date of this Greeves' first registration as 7th October 1968 to the City of London Police; by 1972 it had passed into private ownership (there is also a photocopy of an MoT certificate from 1974). Also on file is a letter dated 2006 and addressed to Roger Neal (the owner before Tony East) from John Card, authentication officer at the Greeves Riders Association, which goes into some detail regarding what the dispatch records state.

In the course of the restoration Tony was able to purchase from a Mr Bill Drummond original police parts taken from his original police Greeves, including the radio, klaxon horn, fire extinguisher, and pannier carriers. The history file also contains other emails and correspondence; various notes concerning the machine's authentication; a quantity of invoices; and a copy of BMS service notes; and a period policeman's uniform. It should be noted that the registration 'VJJ 980G' appears to have lapsed from the DVLA/HPI database.