Countless motorcycle manufacturers appeared in the 1920s and 30s in England, but somehow, none were as cool as Vincent. High-speed machines, combining old-school big-displacement twins, monochrome finishes and catchy names like Rapide and Black Shadow, the Vincent V-twin welcomes you to any roundtable about motor racing and it’s not hard to see why. A seat rarely opens up at the Vincent Owners Club, even more so when you’re talking about an extremely rare first-series Rapide.
One of just 79 built, the Series-A Rapide represented Vincent’s first foray into V-twins—an effort that made the Vincent the supercar of the day. There are faster and sometimes more valuable Vincents, but the Series-A Rapide’s rarity and importance can hardly be overstated. So this restored 1938 Rapide highlights Bonhams’ comings and goings Stafford Spring Sale with an estimated hammer price of $300,854 to $350,997.
Although Vincent did not pioneer V-twins, their implementation was at least deserves an honorable mention. Philip Vincent’s beginnings in motorcycling were similar to many of his contemporaries, he became interested in bicycles at a young age and created a few ‘specials’ of his own design as of late. 1920s. At the age of 20, Vincent applied for a patent for a cantilever rear suspension design and, with support from his family, purchased the financially struggling HRD brand from Howard R Davies in 1928.
Having affixed his own name above the HRD logo, Vincent continued where Davies had left off by building single-cylinder machines with engines sourced from JAP and Rudge, and using chassis and systems hang its own cantilever. When third-party engines proved unreliable at the Isle of Mann, Vincent and engineer Philip Irving decided to start from scratch, resulting in the 499cc OHV Meteor engine used in the Comet and Meteor models. .
But of course, it wasn’t the Comet or the Meteor that made the Vincent iconic, it was the V-twins, and the engine in the Rapide is derived directly from these early singles. As the story goes, Irving is said to have discovered two stacked technical drawings of the meteor engine and envisioned joining their cylinders to a common lower end. The final design was a 47-degree V-twin, displacing 998 cc and featuring two standard Meteor heads on the new crankcase halves.
Due to the use of existing Meteor tooling, the front and rear cylinders are identical, saving a significant amount of money and resulting in both exhaust pipes facing forward. Two Amal carburetors power the mill, and the dry sump provides lubrication to various external pipes and hoses, leading to the Series-A’s nickname—a mechanic’s nightmare. water pipe.
Capable of producing 45 horsepower at 5,500 rpm, the Series-A Rapide immediately established itself as one of the fastest bikes money could buy. Frankly, the Rapide would be best Brough-Superior SS100Top speed is 110 mph. Despite Vincent’s innovative cantilevered rear end, both he and Irving relied on Brampton beam forks, and the Rapide’s front end was said to deliver light and tight handling.
Remember that we are talking about triple-digit speeds in the 1930s, and so the brake unit best suited to the task was the 7-inch, single-ended drum—Oh. Relying on strength in numbers, Rapide uses a pair of small drums in the front and a single drum in the rear. With that in mind, it’s shocking that 60-65 of the 79 Series-A Rapides still exist today. But if the finished Rapide has a major flaw, it’s definitely in the transmission.
Considering most of the Series-A’s hardware comes directly from single-cylinders (even the chassis is taken straight from the Comet with a few extra inches of wheelbase), it’s no surprise that Vincent decided to intended to keep the Comet’s divorced four-speed Burman. and triplex series main drive. Unfortunately, the gearbox is not up to the task and buyers are advised to avoid WOT until the clutch is fully engaged.
Debuting at the 1936 Olympia Automobile Show, few potential buyers were willing to sign on the dotted line based on the new manufacturer’s claims—especially one with a silly rear suspension. stupid. Vincent’s works team helped inspire confidence, most notably with ‘Ginger’ Wood surpassing the lap record at Donington Park in 1938 and setting the sprint record at Gatwick in part fourth mile is 11.75 seconds. However, only 79 Series-A Rapides were sold before the Stevenage factory was retooled for armament production in 1939.
Vincent continued motorcycle production after the war with a completely reworked Rapide, named the Series-B, which used unit construction, revised cylinder geometry and the engine as a single load-bearing unit. force. More than 1,800 Series-Bs were built and of course, subsequent Series C Vincents included the legendary Black Shadow and Black Lightning. Phil Vincent’s machines would continue to break records and Rollie Free’s bodywork swept his rear fender into the history books at Bonneville, but even so, the last Vincent motorcycle rolled off the production line in December 1955.
Vincent produced about 11,000 motorcycles in the north between 1928 and 1955, but there were a number of reasons why. This 1938 Series-A Rapide is expected to bring in such strong amounts. To start, the aforementioned rarity is one of just 79 Series-A Rapides built and most importantly, it is a numbers-matching machine with the original half-case and frame. It also comes with an impressive amount of documentation, including a comprehensive ownership history after 1955, which includes several prominent collectors.
That’s not to say this particular Vincent lived a life of pampering and glamour, and when the current supplier bought the bike from Japan in 2002, it was purely a box. Despite matching numbers, the bike was largely disassembled and had clearly been sanded at least once before with many incorrect parts. Exhaustive efforts have gone into the restoration of V1017, which is too long to list here, but rest assured that they have considered every detail down to the precise domed glass in the ammeter.
Using a combination of refurbished original parts and the most accurate replacement parts available, the most discerning Vincent specialist will discover some details that differ from the way they left factory in 1938.
The Rapide’s owner christened it ‘Grunter’ upon completing the restoration in 2017 and after cycling 350 miles he commented “Suffice it to say that the legend these machines create is valuable and substantial.”
This stunning Vincent Series-A Rapide is the main attraction in Bonhams’ upcoming Stafford Spring Sale and will cross the block as Lot 365 on April 21.
Image courtesy of Bonhams.
