marque‟s sales record in the UK was

unimpressive, the oddball looks and the

British motorcyclist‟s suspicion of new

technology and two strokes in general

meaning the EMC wasn‟t that favourably

received. There was also an issue with pricing

- at £191 it was £12 more than the highly

respected Velocette KSS. The model did quite

well in the export markets, however, with

product-starved post war Europe taking fair

numbers of the machines, but this wasn‟t

enough, and by 1953 the lack of sales success

meant the closure of the Park Royal factory.

This wasn‟t the last we‟d hear of Dr Ehrlich,

however. He went on to a career with De

Havilland but kept his interest in bikes, and

the EMC name reappeared on a 125 cc

racing two stroke in the late nineteen fifties,

ridden by some of the top riders of the day.

Mike Hailwood even took one to third place in

the 1961 125cc World Championship. Once

more, EMC motorcycles faded from sight as

Dr Joe busied himself designing and racing

Formula Three cars, but in the eighties he was

back on the motorcycle racing scene turning

the Waddon Rotax machine into a race

winner and taking the honours in four Light-

weight TT races. In his later years Ehrlich was

heavily involved in alternative engine

technology, developing the „Environmental

Engine‟ with variable compression and

capacity, said to improve fuel economy and

emissions. He died in 2003 aged 89 without

ever seeing the engine adopted for commercial

use. Our members can now see the EMC for

themselves free of charge at the London

Motorcycle Museum in Greenford.

The BMCT‟s latest acquisition is

an interesting 1947 EMC 350cc Mark I,

manufactured by the Ehrlich Motor Co. at

Park Royal, north-west London. The

founder of the company, Dr Josef Ehrlich,

fled to England in 1938 to escape the Nazis,

bringing with him a Puch based split single

two-stroke engine on which he had been

working. This engine was to form the basis

of the first machines to emerge from the

new EMC factory some nine years later,

development having been interrupted by the

war.

The split single was invented by

Alberto Garelli in 1912 but very few home

manufacturers picked up on the technology

at the time and it was left to Puch to develop

it further, which they did with some success,

actually winning the German Grand Prix in

1931 with their version of the engine. At

home, Trojan used a split single layout from

1913 in their two stroke motor car. Briefly,

it uses two cylinders with two pistons

sharing a common combustion chamber.

Externally it looks like a single cylinder

engine with one exhaust pipe, one carburet-

tor and one spark plug. The split single

system sends the intake fuel-air mixture up

one bore to the combustion chamber,

sweeping the exhaust gases down the other

bore and out of the exposed exhaust port.

The split single two-stroke thus delivers

better economy than the common forms of

two-stroke (and runs better at small throttle

openings) at the cost of an engine that is

heavier. The lubrication weaknesses of the

two-stroke remain, as does most of the

pollution. The problem of big-end

lubrication in the EMC engine is dealt with

by the provision of a pilgrim pump built

into the chain case which delivers more oil

when the engine was working hard than it

does on a small throttle opening.

The EMC frame is a neat duplex

affair with a bolted-on backbone of

manganese bronze which supported the

steering head. Dowty Oleomatic front forks

are employed, with a rigid rear end,

although plunger rear suspension was

offered from 1948. A Vincent type dual

front brake was also part of the original

spec, as was a four speed gearbox. Despite

this up to date specification the new

MARK ONE EMC IS THE TRUST’S LATEST ACQUISITION

BMCT News

Newsletter of The British Motorcycle Charitable Trust June 2009

Inside this issue:

New acquisition 1

Coventry to Brighton 2

1,000 Bikes 2

Banbury Run 2

New Members 2

Stafford Show 3

Lowboy Norton 3

Members’ Bikes 4

Diary Dates 4

Trustees

Peter Wellings (Chairman)

Malcolm Aldridge

Steve Bagley

Paul Barnes

John Handley

Mike Jackson

John Kidson

Ian Walden OBE

Registered Office

Rodborough Court

Stroud

GL5 3LR

Registered Charity

No. 509420

Administration

Andy Bufton/MMS

Holly Cottage

Bishampton

Pershore

WR10 2NH

Contact details

Tel: 01386 462524

Mob: 07754 880116

E-mail: info@bmct.org

London Motorcycle Museum founder Bill Crosby with the EMC 350, the latest addition to their display.

Bright and early on a

gloomy Saturday in April

Coventry‟s Millennium

Place echoed to the sound of

veteran, vintage and classic

motorcycles and three

wheelers, as the VMCC‟s

annual Coventry to Brighton

Run got under way from

C o v e n t r y T r a n s p o r t

Museum. Organised once

again by the team of Ian and

Kathy Alexander of the

Warwickshire Section, the

event this year enjoyed

assistance from the BMCT

as we sponsored the tea,

coffee and bacon baps for

the competing riders. Thus

replete, some 74 entrants set

off for Brighton via an in-

teresting route, arriving in

Brighton some hours later.

On Sunday the remaining

participants reassembled in

Brighton to receive their

awards, before making their

way home. Our photos

show the first rider being

flagged away by the Mayor

of Coventry watched by

BMCT Chairman Peter

Wellings and Ian Alexander,

and some of the interesting

variety of machines taking

part in this year‟s event.

“The largest gathering of

Veteran and Vintage machines

in the world” is how the

VMCC are billing this year‟s

61st Banbury Run, starting

from the Heritage Motor

Centre at Gaydon on Sunday

21st June 2009. Apart from

the 600(!) entrants for the run

there will be club stands and

the Banbury Autojumble to

interest the many spectators

who flock to this event to see

rare and sometimes unique

bikes take part in the run

which takes in some

challenging roads in the north

Cotswolds. There is a gentler

route for older machines, and

part of the fun is watching the

intrepid riders take on the

challenge of Sunrising Hill,

a steep climb with a tricky

right hander part of the way

up. There is free parking near

the start, with a shuttle bus

into the site, and camping is

available on Saturday night.

For more details visit the web-

site www.banbury-run.co.uk

or contact the VMCC office

on 01283 540557.

the Past Masters parades on

Sunday, whilst also in action

during the weekend will be

Michael Dunlop on the

Norton Rotary plus Jim

Redman, Phil Read MBE,

Tommy Robb, Colin Seeley,

Malc Wheeler, Sammy Miller

MBE and Chris Vincent, to

name but a few. As usual

there are a wide variety of

other activities taking place

over the weekend, including a

Pre 65 Trial (Sat), Historic

Grasstrack (Sun), Firework

Spectacular (Sa t ) , an

Autojumble over the two

days, and live bands on the

Ace Café Rock „n‟ Roll stage

in the Real Ale bar, with stage

appearances from all the star

riders. Don‟t miss it.

Following the success of last

year when we demonstrated

our Triumph Bandit, we will

return to Mallory Park on

July 11th - 12th to show off

our stunning AJS S3 as

restored by Sammy Miller.

We hope to get to exercise

the machine in the track

sessions on Saturday, and

John Kidson will be in the

saddle for the Sunday

morning session. Our tent

will once again be in the

Avenue of Clubs up by the

hairpin, and we look forward

to welcoming BMCT

members old and new. For

this year the VMCC‟s guest

of honour will be Carl

Fogarty, who will be

entertaining spectators in

COVENTRY TO BRIGHTON RUN 2009

FESTIVAL OF 1,000 BIKES

Page 2 BMCT News

NEW MEMBERS

We welcome the following

new members and supporters

of our charity:

Peter Rice

Keith Pressey

Christopher Sealy

Linda Sargent

Martin Sargent

Michael Gardner

Norman Cass

Bill Hughes

Denise Cross

Guy Soden

Andy McCoye

Anthony Simmons

Keith Rance

Terrence Mooring

Kenneth Rance

David Gibbs

BANBURY RUN

A Coventry to Brighton gallery

There was mixed weather at

the end of April for those who

attended the Classic Motor

Cycle Show at Stafford, but

safe and dry inside the halls,

the entrants in the classic

concours event had no

concerns. As usual there were

some absolutely stunning

machines to be seen, with the

Best in Show award going to a

1911 Bradbury that looked as

if it had rolled out of the

showroom only yesterday.

Other noteworthy bikes in the

competition were a lovely

water cooled SOS (below)

that won an award for its lady

owner, and a delightful 1914

Victoria, a 269 cc Villiers

engined lightweight (right) that

was one of the few makes to

originate from Scotland,

Glasgow to be precise. Second

place in the vintage category

went to BMCT member

Richard Duffin‟s 1927 Scott

Flying Squirrel, and the award

for the best club stand went to

the Malmesbury Classic

Motorcycle Club. Another

BMCT member, Sammy

Miller, had his customary

clutch of machines on the

Mortons Media stand,

including the fantastic REG

250 (above) that has

emerged from his workshops

after restoration. The

attention to detail on this

machine has to be seen to be

believed. Over in the

Bonhams auction hall a

marathon sale took place on

Sunday afternoon, and

against the current trend

88% of the lots found new

homes – a quite remarkable

result. Top price for a British

bike was the £47,700 (est.

£26,000 - £30,000) paid for

a three-owner Vincent

Black Shadow that had lain

unused in a basement for

nearly thirty years. Of the

many Triumphs in the sale,

possibly the nicest was a

1948 Grand Prix (above) that

was brought back from Tas-

mania in 1955 and packed

away (literally) in boxes

until it was found in 2002

and reassembled using all

the original bits, right down

to the 50 year old tyres! This

time warp bike made

£17,250 under the hammer

(est. £8,000 - £12,000). With

a total of £1.4m worth of

bikes being sold the sale was

a resounding success.

Sammy it was in a poor state and

missing its fairing, but it was

rebuilt and joined the fantastic

display in Sammy‟s „Norton

Hall‟. Then, just recently Sam

received a call from an enthusiast

who had seen a photo of the low-

boy and recognised the fairing as

one that he had just bought in the

Autojumble at Stafford Show!

Needless to say, Sam jumped at

the chance to buy the fairing and

complete the unique machine

which is now fully finished and

on display at Sammy‟s museum

in the New Forest.

Some while ago Sammy Miller was

fortunate enough to acquire the 1959

Norton „Lowboy‟ from the late Bob

Collier, who had obtained it when

the Norton works at Bracebridge

Street, Birmingham closed its doors

in 1962. The machine was a product

of the ingenuity of Doug Hele, and

the objective was to lower drag and

frontal area by lowering the bike as

far as possible. Unfortunately the

resulting riding position was very

uncomfortable, the riders hated it,

and the Lowboy was only raced a

couple of times before being

shelved. When the bike came to

STAFFORD SHOW

SAMMY’S LOWBOY NORTON FINISHED AT LAST

June 2009

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

Would members please note

that BMCT membership cards

do not guarantee free entry to

our affiliated museums when a

special event is being held, for

example the Banbury Run or

Bonneville Anniversary which

are being held this year at the

Her i tage Motor Centre,

Gaydon. If in any doubt, please

contact the museum concerned

beforehand - telephone

numbers are on your

membership card.

Page 3

Sammy Miller with the newly re-faired ‘Lowboy’ Norton

Holly Cottage

Main Street

Bishampton

Pershore

Worcestershire

Phone: 01386 462524

Mobile: 07754 880116

Email: info@bmct.org

The British Motorcycle

Charitable Trust

Preserving the past...for the

future

The British Motorcycle Charitable Trust was originally founded in

1979 as a means of raising funds to establish what was to be-

come the National Motorcycle Museum at Bickenhill, near Bir-

mingham. By 1995 the museum was well established as a suc-

cessful commercial venture, and it and the charity became

separate organisations. A new board of trustees was appointed

to manage the assets of the BMCT as it pursues its objective to

preserve and promote British motorcycle engineering heritage.

Our funding comes from bequests, donations, membership fees

and interest on our reserves. We have an expanding network of

affiliated museums that we assist with projects, and we also

own a growing collection of rare and unusual machines which

can be seen on display at various locations throughout the coun-

try. Our members enjoy free entry to all our affiliated museums

for the very reasonable sum of £20 a year.

To enquire about membership or to find out about how you can

help the trust through a donation or bequest, please contact

Andy Bufton at the address on the left.

www.bmct.org

Edited and published by Matchless Management Services, Holly Cottage, Bishampton, Pershore, WR10 2NH

Visit our website at:

Who are we…?

An early navigation system fitted to one of the competing machines on the Coventry to Brighton!

SO WHAT BRITISH BIKES DO YOU OWN?

We‟d like to start a regular spot in the newsletter featuring the bikes owned

by our members, so please send in your shots, by e-mail or post, and share

your pride and joy with the rest of us. It doesn‟t have to be particularly rare or

in concours condition, but if there‟s a story to tell about it then so much the

better. Please send your photographs to Andy Bufton at the address above.

Here‟s one to get us started….a proud owner and his 1953 Ariel KHA Twin.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

21 June - VMCC Banbury Run

Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon

5 July - Anniversary Celebrations

London Motorcycle Museum, Greenford

11-12 July - Festival of 1,000 Bikes

Mallory Park, Leicestershire

18-19 July - Pageant of Power

Cholmondeley Castle, Malpas, Cheshire

19 July - Speedway Day

Sammy Miller Museum, New Milton

9 August - The Graham Walker Run

National Motor Museum, Beaulieu

22-23 August - 50 Years of the Bonneville

Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon

30 August - All Day Breakfast

London Motorcycle Museum, Greenford