Original and unrestored, 1922/1923 P&M 600cc Motorcycle Combination

• Present family ownership since 1957
• Widely campaigned
• Displayed at Stanford Hall

Offered for sale by his family, this P&M outfit formerly belonged to the late Angus Martin, an engineer involved in developing the first of Frank Whittle's jet engines during WW2. After the war he was proprietor of Dunsmore Garage (1948-1986); a husband and father of three; and, lastly but by no means least, a rider in the Isle of Man TT races in the 1940s, '50s, and '60s, and any circuit you care to name in Great Britain.

One day he arrived back at Dunsmore Garage from an auction with the machine offered here, a 1922/1923 P & M motorcycle combination, 'NR 1841'. That was around 1957 when the vendor was ten years old. He remembers riding it for the first time around the pumps on the filling station forecourt, carefully changing gear with the hand-change gear lever: "It was a fun machine, so different from all our father's other bikes."

Angus's daughter Angela discovered that the previous owner was a Mr Sparks, and when he died the P&M was sold by his friend Bob Haynes, together with all his assets. For some years the P&M remained unused in the garage's car showroom. Then, in the 1980s, the P&M began to be used more. A collection of photographs, VMCC and other magazines, show the sidecar being ridden by Angus Martin at Mallory Park (1989), the Banbury Run (early 1980s) and other events, once with his wife Audrey as a passenger, often with Vic Saunders. Angus Martin always wore his racing helmet, painted silver with a green shamrock on the front, ever a proud Ulsterman.

In 1986, Dunsmore Garage was sold and the Martins retired to a house in Rugby. Angus spent many hours going to autojumbles with Vic Saunders, and rebuilding old bikes in a big shed at the end of the garden. At some point the P&M, together with a CSI Norton, spent some years at Stamford Hall on display before being returned to storage in the family garage in Rugby. Sadly, Angus Martin passed away in 1990 and the motorcycles were inherited by our vendor; living in London, he did not have a garage, so they stayed in his mother's garage and moved with her when she moved house again.

In 2005, Colin Mitchell, a family friend, rode the P&M, with his lady wife as passenger, dressed in period costume, in the VMCC Warwicks 50th Coventry parade at Coombe Park, winning the Jack Butler Trophy for best Vintage combination. Eventually, the garage was required to house Angela's Austin Seven Ruby, so arrangements were made with the VMCC for them to have the P&M on loan. Bill Phelps was one of the first to accommodate the P&M, and among the papers there is a very interesting account of his stewardship of the machine.

The VMCC kept it well maintained, and the P&M was ridden in events such as the Banbury Run. In 2013 it was ridden by David Davies, editor of the VMCC magazine, and was pictured therein leaving Gaydon. Last taxed for the road in 2014, 'NR 1841' has been well cared for and kept running by the VMCC, and was entrusted to the prestigious Sammy Miller Museum in 2022 for repair and recommissioning after an accident. The vendor has now decided that it would be best to pass the P&M on to someone who would, it is hoped, treasure it as its custodians have done for the last 66 years.

Accompanying documentation includes an original Instruction Manual (well used); three tax discs from the 1920s; a current V5C Registration Certificate; correspondence; parts price lists; various photographs; and details of events entered and prizes won, mostly VMCC related. There are also numerous magazines with articles and photographs of the outfit being ridden in various events. The history file's contents testify to the care taken of the P&M by the VMCC, showing their great love and respect for these lovely old motorcycles.

Having spent 66 years in the care of one family, and displaying that wonderful patina that only an original and unrestored machine can have, this delightful 100-year-old P&M combination is worthy of the closest inspection.