Beaulieu Autojumble 2023

My first time going to the Beaulieu Autojumble through the main gate as a regular paying customer. Every other year I've gone has been with a stall. It was a different experience but still highly enjoyable, in fact slightly liberating to know that there was no stall to look after and all time there was purely to browse and chat.

To add to the experience Dan kindly provided the event transport in the shape of his 1934 Crossley Torquay Saloon. A very classy way to turn up and a beautiful drive through the New Forest where it was in its element in the 40mph national park blanket speed limit.

The Autojumble seems to be picking up slightly after the post-covid and brexit doldrums. There were a good few more stalls than the last couple of years even if it's not quite back up to 2019 levels. It's great to see a lot more international visitors back even though there are still understandably very few overseas stallholders.

Our transportation for the event - Dan's
1934 Crossley Torquay Saloon.

This is what Beaulieu is all about. Stall with a grand
piano, it was well played too.

John Tickle frame kit for Manx Norton engine
on offer for £2500 seemed quite reasonable.

My favourite bike of the event. 1926 Rudge. I thought
I had gotten somewhere with the owner in persuading
him to part exchange it with me for one or more of my
machines but I haven't yet heard from him. Still
waiting.... go on, if you read this you know you want to!

Rudge detail showing the linked braking mechanism.

100mph Bonniksen speedo on the Rudge.
Very classy.

Bonniksen speedo drive on the Rudge's
rear wheel.

And sticker from the IOM Steam Packet.

Never seen one of these before in the flesh, a Brutsch
Mopetta. Yours for £24,000 sir.

1904 Humber forecar on the Veteran Car Club stand.

The Auburn Aero. A 1931 Auburn fitted
with a 1915 Sturtevant aero engine. For sale
and an impressive beast. I've since looked it
up online and it looks a lot nicer from a distance
than up close. It's a weird mix of eras of parts
but no doubt that makes it significantly better
to drive and no doubt it is exhilarating with 140bhp
available and 70mph cruising at just over 1000rpm.

The Sturtevant aero engine in the Auburn.

Gorgeous 1924 Coventry Eagle flying 8. Very impressive.
Currently on ebay for £75,000. I don't know the
history of this bike but I'd guess it was used for sidecar
racing at some point with its braced forks 

Coventry Eagle again. Beautiful.

Very nice Rover combination.

Full view of the Rover.

Rudge Multi

A Rudge Multi from the veteran era. Note the side saddle pillion

Rudge celebrity endorsement

Celebrity endorsement is nothing new. Here's movie couple Ivy Duke and Guy Newall promoting a Rudge on a Rudge produced postcard.

The bike looks to be circa 1923 just when Rudge were moving away from their famous 'Multi' models with variable belt drive to conventional gearboxes. The bike appears to have a drum front brake but in fact it had dummy rim brakes front and rear. The front hub 'brake' is actually just a large flange on the hub and could be used to semi enclose the speedo drive when this was fitted as an option.

Ivy Duke and Guy Newall appeared together in several films and were married for seven years. Both were most prolific in the silent film era.

Silent movie stars Ivy Duke and Guy Newall
with c1923 Rudge outfit.

Rudge Multi seaside prop

Don't mess with these lads! The bike is almost certainly a photographer's prop and the location is down on Madeira Drive in Brighton. I wish I knew more of the social history of motorcycles as beachside photography props. Were they still such a luxury item in the twenties that people sat on them for aspirational pictures or were they just something fun to sit on for a photo? Either way the prop bikes were almost universally rather on the knackered side - look at the bald tyres and dents on this Rudge.

 

First group ride in six months

My local VMCC Dorset Section has been organising Covid compliant runs for a few weeks now and this was the first that I had managed to make it to. To keep things in line with guidance everyone meets up outside at a set location and then rides off in groups of six with a group leader choosing the route to the pre-agreed end point. I rode my Velo along and joined the slower group led by the rather lovely MV Disco Volante below. For group runs I personally prefer to amble around and enjoy the countryside rather than race so this suited me perfectly.

So good to get out and ride a classic bike with other like mided folks after such a long break...

Sweet little 175cc ohc MV Augusta Disco Volante was group leader.

Ver ycurvy petrol tank on the MV.

Gorgeous Rudge Ulster Grand Prix at the lunch stop.

Twin clocks on the Rudge. The one on the left is a 'passive'
manually controlled rev calculator revs in any given gear
for particular speeds.

Late thirties Rudge

Nowt more than another old family photo featuring a motorcycle. This time a Rudge from the late thirties and inscribed to the rear, 'Mum at Chenies' (apparently a village in Hertfordshire).

Someone's Mum on a late thirties Rudge.

Four valves four speeds three wheels

A bit of a faded photo this one but the shape is the unmistakable one of a four valve four speed Rudge. Looks like the couple aboard the Rudge are on a holiday? The tents in the background are rather uniform, is it a holiday or is it a scout or army camp?

Mid twenties four valve four speed Rudge combination.

Rudge 4 valve 4 speed combo

Slightly blurry photo but what a cracking combination. It is a mid to late twenties Rudge four valve four speed with a lovely 'zeppelin' styled chair as was the fashion for sporting outfits of the period.

Rudge Bicycles 1958 brochure

Another bicycle brochure emigrated over from the Vintage Bicycling site. The Rudge range for 1958.

Rudge in motion

Yep, on the face of it a pretty terrible photo but there's something unusual about the angle and motion that make it work. Not hard to see that the bike is a Rudge but that is all I can tell you.

The vintage scene from days gone

Several more pictures from vintage events in the seventies and eighties. Thanks are due once again to Bettie Barber for letting me scan pictures from her family album.

Veteran Chater Lea v-twin, Norton CS1 and Rudge Ulster
were all in the Barber collection.

Not so sure about my Sunbeams. I'm going for a Model 8 of
around 1936.

Stunning Indian Power Plus c 1914 / 1915.

Mk II Ariel Square 4 combination. 

AJS Rudge Ariel

Mid thirties snap of bright young things having fun featuring an AJS, a Rudge and an Ariel.

Thirties AJS, Rudge and Ariel