1934 Calthorp Ivory 350cc Motorcycle

Description

Calthorpe Motor Cycle Company had its origins in the 1890s as a Birmingham bicycle maker called Hands and Cake, run by George W. Hands. It was renamed the Bard Cycle Manufacturing Company in 1897, before changing again to the Minstrel Cycle Company in 1901. It then became the Minstrel & Rea Cycle Company in 1905 after which it started producing motorcycles as well as bicycles in 1909. The company used a range of proprietary engines in its motorcycles, such as White and Poppe, then Precision, J.A.P. and, in 1915, Peco 2-strokes until the business, now known as the Calthorpe Motor Cycle Company, paused production during World War 1. In the late 1920s, Calthorpe launched a new range of motorcycles under the sub-brand of Calthorpe Ivory. Now using a self-produced single-cylinder sloper-design engine, the ohv twin-port 348cc unit was fitted into a full-cradle duplex frame, and used a three-speed Burman gearbox, with a tank mounted change. The engine breathed through an Amal carb and used a BTH magneto mounted to the rear of the cylinder. Top speed was said to be around 110 km/h. The Calthorpe Ivory motorcycles were sold exclusively by London-based dealer Pride & Clark in Stockwell Road, Brixton, however although expensive for the period the profit margins were small, and left Calthorpe MCC in financial trouble. Receivers sold the works in 1939 to Bruce Douglas, the nephew of the founder of Douglas, who bought the Calthorpe equipment and moved it to Bristol. He built new models powered by 347cc and 497cc Matchless engines, but only a few were made before production was stopped for good by the outbreak of World War II. Eventually the equipment was sold to DMW.