To everyone’s delight, last month’s spectacular Pebble Beach concours included a special category on historic British motorcycles. Most were competition bikes, or at least somewhat race-derived, but there were a couple of exceptions. Read on and you’ll understand that in some places (including the United States, we should add), the motorcycle and sidecar was marketed as a viable alternative to the automobile, at least for a while.
To me, this was one of the most fascinating sights on the green at Pebble. Believe it or not, this is a post-war motorcycle, a 1954 Ariel Square 4, so named for the layout of its four-cylinder, 997cc engine, with its famed quad exhausts. The roadster-type sidecar, built in Britain by Garrand, is called a Silchester Saloon Mark II. Look over both views, including the boat-keel bodywork faired into the windscreen, the side door and the rumble seat, along with that reverse-skirted fender. The owner is James Shaffer of Hawthorne, California.
An earlier, and more conventional, arrangment is this 1932 BSA 32-A, a traditionalist Brit bike if there ever was one, with a 499cc side-valve vertical single. Unlike many British sidehacks, this came from the factory as a complete, ready-to-ride set. Theresa Worsch of Rancho Santa Fe, California, is the owner.
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