Motorcycle Sidecars for Auction at Stafford
Published February 3rd, 2009
Bonhams will recall the glory days of motorcycle sidecar combinations with an offering of three historic examples at the International Classic Motorcycle Show in Stafford on 26 April.
The sidecars are: Eric Oliver’s 1949 Norton Manx/Watsonian, Harold Tozer’s 1949 BSA Gold Star Trials and Bert Greeves’ 1968 Greeves/Watsonian.
* Eric Oliver’s 1949 Norton Manx/Watsonian: Estimate £40,000 – 50,000. The ex-Oliver Manx is of 596cc (600cc being the maximum permitted capacity prior to 1951) and was purchased from the estate of the late Reg Dearden, one of the most famous of all Norton tuner/entrants, by the late Eric Biddle, from whom the current owner acquired it in the early 1970s. Restored in the 1990s and verified as authentic by Eric Oliver’s widow, Dennis Jenkinson and Ron Watson (of Watsonian), this historic machine has been on display at The National Motor Museum, Beaulieu for many years.
* Harold Tozer’s 1949 BSA Gold Star Trials: Estimate £16,000 – £20,000. Had there been a world trials championship for sidecars in his day there can be little doubt that Harold Tozer would have added that crown to his countless successes at national level. During the late 1940s/early 1950s, there was no more famous partnership among trials experts than that of Tozer and his passenger Jack Wilkes. Between 1946 and December 1952, when he retired, Tozer won no fewer than 54 premier awards in national trials, from 1949 onwards using the machine we offer, ‘JOK 536’. More than any other, it was this outfit with its ‘trademark’ spare tyre strapped to the front of the Watsonian competition chair, that made the rather corpulent Tozer so readily identifiable.
Auction info http://www.bonhams.com/stafford
