1959 Royal Enfield Constellation

Lot details
Registration No: XMR467A
Frame No: 6149
Engine No: SMCA7636
cc: 700
MOT Expiry Date: None

The west midlands factory of 'the Enfield' produced many fine motorcycles, and some clunkers, which are still in production today, albeit in greatly modified form, on the Indian sub-continent.(Where the 'Royal ' bit came from is unclear, maybe the Queen Mother rode a Bullet ?) One machine that definitely falls into the former category was the 700cc Constellation which in 1963 became the impressive 750 Interceptor to take on the offerings from BSA Triumph. Never really successful in terms of sales the big Royal Enfield twins were charismacho, to coin a phrase, but the struggle for oblivion was almost lost. Mr Honda's 750 Four was coming out of the sun and the big heavy oil leaking dated flawed vibrating clunky upright parallel Brit twin was about to be shot down for good.
Happily this was long after XMR 467A was born in 1959 at Royal Enfield's Redditch facility, the saw tooth roof line of which can be seen still. A great improvement on it's '500 Twin' predecessor which wasn't very fast and the slightly more sporting Meteor and Super Meteor models, the 'Connie' became the R.E. to have, should you want one. It still suffered a little from the quirky but standard issue oil tank, integral to the crankcase and prone to boil the 4 pints of oil within, which could soon become without via some of the joints if not scrupulously maintained. Braking and handling were considered adequate if not over effective considering the size and weight of these robust if idiosyncratic and individualistic machines.
This bike was purchased in 1989 by the vendor from the estate of an old soldier. No work has been done on the machine since although it has been seen to run in the intervening period. A V5 is present, the condition looks to be very original and correct and with perhaps little more than cosmetic attention it could become a ride and restore proposition.