Think SDG 606 maybe a Triumph though can't quite read the Rego Disc !
Cheers Tim
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Velocette factories
- Thread starter colinmann
- Start date
Cheers Tim
S
Stitcher
Guest
Tim, after a second look you are correct about that one being a Triumph.
Radiorails
master brummie
All the motorcycles had the old Gloucestershire registration marks.
brianhenrygill
Brummie babby
brianhenrygill
Brummie babby
hi my husband has passed your email to me. My father was service manager at James Motorcycles and was the last person there when the factory was taken over by Suzuki. I think that was 1967/68 as far as I can remember.
colin smith
proper brummie kid
The original Veloce [Velocette] works were in York Road Hall Green.When I was an apprentice printer in the 1960's we did
a lot of printing for this company including various manuals for the range of motorcycles that were in production.
The Japanese motorcycles came on the scene and Velocette were a little slow to get their range to the market in time to compete. A last ditch attempt was a scooter type machine but it did not appeal to the buying public.I think it was in the early 1970's that production stopped.
A motorcycle enthusiast/businessman bought a lot of parts which had not been used including tyres /headlights/Miller speedo clusters and many other parts [and possibly the name Velocette Motorcycles]
He had already done something similar with Vincent/ Scott/ and Royal Enfield.
By the the mid 1970's the business was situated on the corner of Old Bromford Lane and Bromford Lane next to the former Facchino's cornett factory [later Salisbury Transmissions]
Once more I came into contact with Velocette [now as a rep] producing reprints of the original manuals. The building looked very shabby from the road and was even worse inside ! BUT inside there were three large new machine tools which produced replica parts for the previous mentioned motorcycle models.
Eventually a development company bought the Salisbury factory and "encouraged "the owner of the motorcycle factory to move out!
The next move took Velocette to Meriden and the acquisition of the old original Triumph spares building which was situated across the road from the main Triumph works which had by now been redeveloped as a housing estate.
I continued to do work for David -the son of the original owner ,but then the work dried up
Colin Smith
Brummie Babbie
colin smith
proper brummie kid
I forgot to mention that the revived operation in Ward End and Meriden did huge export business particularly with Japan [ironic !] supplying spares to collectors who needed a particular replacement part.There is a big following in Japan for classic British Cars and Motorbikes.
It was said there were rare occasions [when there were still sufficient parts of a particular model] that a complete bike was produced to replace a missing chassis number [that came from a reliable source in the business]
When I passed through Meriden a few months ago I looked up the building but there was no Velocette signage to be seen
so I wonder if the Velocette Motorcycle Company still exists.
I noticed last week when driving along York Road that the newer building built for McDonald who briefly made domestic vacuum cleaners has also been demolished.
When Veloce closed, the factory was demolished and this new building was constructed to house this appliance manufacturer .This person [ Mr MacDonald ]who had been the former head of BSR record players at Cradley Heath
said he had designed a revolutionary carpet cleaning machine.
Later one of the Lucas companies operated out of the building for a number of years. Finally the name changed to a business that morphed out of Lucas
Maris
master brummie
I was watching Military dealers on Quest and the dealer was buying a Welbike, I didn’t know anything about them so descended into a rabbit hole on the web and ended up back here !
en.wikipedia.org
Welbike - Wikipedia
Brassed Off
master brummie
With redevelopment of the Hall Green site of the Velocette factory in York Road, it is a great pity that there is to be no recognition of this once famous motorcycle manufacturer.
In their time they were amongst the most famous producers of motorcycles in the World.
They won many of the premier races throughout the World, including the Isle of Mann TT races on many occasions.
The developers of the housing estate would seem to be oblivious of the history of this site, and B'ham Council appear to of the same mind.
This company should have some recognition of their input into the City of B'hams great heritage.
In their time they were amongst the most famous producers of motorcycles in the World.
They won many of the premier races throughout the World, including the Isle of Mann TT races on many occasions.
The developers of the housing estate would seem to be oblivious of the history of this site, and B'ham Council appear to of the same mind.
This company should have some recognition of their input into the City of B'hams great heritage.
Birmingham City Council has no interest whatsoever in the industrial heritage of this city, and the word "industry" appears to be a dirty word!!
PA739
The Velocette business was run by a Bertram Goodman, descendant of the original founder and the business was still active in 1970, when I dated his daughter Anne for a while. She was a regular rider of a Velocette machine at the time. I understand she later emigrated to Australia and married Norbert ? and as far as I know she lives there still, being active in the preservation movement for vintage Velocette machines.
Just remembered that Anne's name is Frampton. According to t'internet the Velocette preservation movement is quite active in Australia.
Fascinated also by the report about Mrs Ethel Denley. If I read this correctly, she would have been the elder sister of Bertram Goodman, whose daughter I knew. So sad that the British motorcycle industry went downhill so quickly.
The last two Velocettes to leave the Hall Green assembly line. Viv.
Source: British Newspaper Archive
Source: British Newspaper Archive
Richard Dye
master brummie
It is very sad, so many great brands just about all gone!
Sten Thomas
proper brummie kid
The reason why Velocettes failed was the same as all the other great institutions - like Norton, Ariel, BSA Lucas Austin etc., in fact a pandemic which prevailed from Victorian times to eventually reduce this once great nation to one akin to a squabbling bannana republic.
The Cause?
In the selection of British Management, it was not WHAT you knew but WHO you knew.
The Cause?
In the selection of British Management, it was not WHAT you knew but WHO you knew.
mw0njm.
A Brummie Dude
Radiorails
master brummie
1969 registered at Peterborough.
Richard Dye
master brummie
I’m actually a Velocette Venom or Viper person
Richard Dye
master brummie
mw0njm.
A Brummie Dude
i dont remembe the parks having them but i do remember the Police having noddy bikes that crept up behind you
www.wemoto.com
1970 Velocette LE Police Bike - webBikeWorld
1970 Velocette LE Police Bike 1970 VELOCETTE LE POLICE BIKE BACKGROUND Tiny Velocette didn’t have much capital to work with in the late 1940s, but they knew they needed to come up with something new. And they hoped to get a jump on the market and get some real bang-for-the-buck out of their...
www.webbikeworld.com
A nod to history – the story of the Noddy bike
The Velocette LE (Little Engine) was made from 1948 to 1970 and saved from oblivion by the good taste of British police force in a triumph of substance over style perhaps? The design, entrusted to Charles Udall, by Eugene Goodman Velocette's Director, was to be a radical state of the art...
