1. Douglas motorcycle PC 207.
Nigel sent the first three photos over a while back. He discovered them in an album relating to his wife's family. The motorcycle is a Douglas machine, dating I think to the early 1920s. The registration number on the bike was PC 207, a series issued in Surrey between July 1921 - July 1923. If anyone can i.d. the model of Douglas in the photographs, please drop me an email. Note the sidecar fitted in photos 2 & 3.
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These classic British motorcycles were first produced at the Douglas family's Bristol workshop in 1907. Based on a previous firm's design, these first bikes were 350cc machines. The company prospered, and during WW1 produced over 70,000 machines for the war effort. In later years the bikes would prove to be popular with dirt-track racers, in part thanks to their revolutionary front disc braking system. Seeing the successes of their motorcycles in action, Douglas began to offer their own, off-the-shelf, dirt-track racing machines of either 500cc or 600cc in the late 1920s.
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By the mid 1930s, sales were declining and the company was taken over by the Bond Aircraft and Engineering Company. Motorcycle production continued however, through WW2 and into the 1950s, with the final bike, a Dragonfly, produced in 1957. Thanks to Nigel for these photos.
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2. A later Douglas motorcycle.
This next shot features a later Douglas machine - perhaps early 1930s? The young lady appears to be quite happy with riding on the pillion behind the bloke in his flat cap, the promise of a cup of tea maybe did the trick. Just visible in the background is another lady, pedalling away on her hoop-frame bicycle.
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3. A Douglas in the 1930s.
Thanks to Les for this photo of his dad sat on a Douglas, registration DR2195, in the mid-1930s.
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Return to Old Car Photos Page No. 9.
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