Lot details Registration No: TO 8252 Frame No: 959 Engine No: KTOR/A 44091 cc: 980 MOT Expiry Date: Aug 2013
A number of manufacturers have sought to produce the "ultimate" motorcycle, a machine with that intangible blend of performance, handling, quality, looks and that little "something" extra that places it above and beyond its competitors. A number have got close, but have not been able to make the transition from contemporary ultimate to achieving an enduring status as the pinnacle of desirability, that accolade falls to two manufacturers, Brough Superior and Vincent. Both machines were the result of one mans search for perfection, both were and are exclusive, admired by all and possessed by a select few, as desirable now as they were when built, however the Brough Superior did something that had not been achieved before, paving the way for the later Vincent, it became an object of desire for all. George Brough's customers included the aristocracy and royalty, the Brough Superior became one of the most desirable machines built, accepted and admired as much as a Rolls Royce or De Haviland Comet by all sectors of society, motorcyclist or not.
George Brough had learnt his trade whilst working at his fathers Brough company, but a divergence in views regarding motorcycle design, prompted George to establish his own company in a prefabricated concrete building at Haydn Road in Nottingham.
Advertisements for the first Brough Superior, the Mark 1, appeared in the press during November 1920 and orders were forthcoming, however, George Brough was not satisfied with his new machine and started development of a "super sports" model, the SS80,that became available during 1923. As with all his products, the SS80 was not a response to the views of the press and other "experts", it was developed by George Brough to meet his standards, tested and evolved by him. It was followed in 1925 by the SS100, an overhead valve 1000cc inspired by Le Vack's record holding machine.
The new machine was guaranteed to be able to reach the magic 100mph mark, but just as importantly it offered exceptional handling, braking and good looks. During the first year of production 69 of the JAP KTOR, delivering 45 bhp, powered machines were built. All were fitted with the patent "Castle" fork and three speed Sturmey Archer gearboxes and sold for £170. Little changed for 1926, although the "Alpine Grand Touring" was now available having been announced at the end of 1925 and at the 1926 Show the stripped down, tuned version of the SS100, the Pendine was shown for the first time. 1927 was a quiet year for the SS100 with the company focusing on the new "680", however for 1928 the SS100 received a new "super heavyweight" Sturmey gearbox to cope with the increased power output delivered by the JAP JTOR engine that had supplanted the KTOR as the standard fitment in the SS100. 1928 also saw the introduction of the Bentley and Draper sprung frame.
This early SS100 is recorded as having been first registered on 7th July 1928 in Nottingham, home of the Brough Superior works. The frame is a 1926/27 type number 959 and the original engine number is listed as KTOR/1/75088/57 (it was not unusual for Brough Superiors to be registered a year or two after the frame was first built, parts were not necessarily used in sequence and the works would sometimes take in used machines in part exchange and rebuild them to be sold as new. There is no surviving works record for the bike but not all machines of this period were issued with one). The first owner is unknown but in 1934 it was owned by Mr Courquin who used the bike with a sidecar, a sidevalve engine was temporarily fitted as this was regarded as being more suitable for sidecar use. Nevertheless, Mr Courquin's son recalls his father suggesting that the outfit was still capable of 80mph! Mr Courquin's son also remembers that around 1945 his father rode the machine to Horsham in West Sussex where he met a man in the street and sold it to him for £10.
In 1948 the SS100 was recorded in the old buff logbook as being owned by William Lavender of Wallington, Surrey and in 1953 it was photographed in Tunbridge Wells, now with the overhead valve engine fitted. By the 1970s the owner was Brough Superior Club president Richard (Dick) Knight who used the machine for speed events and in 1971, when fitted with a specially tuned racing engine, it was timed at 122.36mph at the World/National Records Meeting at Elvington. After Dick Knight's death in 1988 his son Tom returned the SS100 to road trim, fitting a KTOR engine, number KTOR/A44091, and used the machine for local runs before it was purchased by the vendor in 2003. Since then 'TO 8252' has been extensively used for touring and Brough Superior Club and VMCC events. During the Brough Superior Club German Rally, the SS100 lapped the Nurburgring circuit, proving capable of keeping up with some much more modern machinery! On another occasion a visit to Scotland provided the opportunity to ride over the 'Pass of the Cattle' at Applecross, George Brough's favourite road and close to where his ashes are scattered. In 2007 the Brough was present at the 100th Anniversary of the Brooklands Track and a couple of years later it received the 'Best Vintage Performance' award in the arduous and prestigious Beamish Trophy Trial, an event retracing the Travers Trial of the 1920s.
It is accompanied by a Swansea V5C and an MOT certificate issued on the 15th August 2012.
PLEASE NOTE: Research carried out in conjunction with the Brough Superior Club following the publication of the catalogue enables us to clarify some of the history for this machine. A Brough Superior SS100 bearing the registration number TO 8252 was registered during July 1928 in Nottingham. The record card for that machine no longer exists but the frame number quoted on the buff log book (759) appears to be a clerical error, the frame bearing that number in fact being an over head valve 680. The machine's original engine no longer exists having been destroyed in a fire.
At some point during the post war period the log book for TO 8252 was acquired by Richard (Dick) Knight and it is thought that he used the TO 8252 identity on his sprint machine amending the frame number to read 959, presumably in an attempt to correct clerical error of the past, unfortunately this frame number was applied to a SS100 that was exported to South America and which no longer exists.
The Brough Superior Club recognise the machine offered as a SS100 but are not comfortable with attributing any of the history relating to the Registration number TO 8252 prior to the machine and the log books acquisition by the Knights.
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