bidder in hushed salesroom
World record paid by German bidder in hushed salesroom
Having gathered dust in a Cornish barn for more than half a century, 'The Broughs of Bodmin Moor' shook off their cobwebs and came to market at Bonhams 28 year old Stafford International Motorcycle Show Sale on Sunday, when a world record £331,900 was paid by a German bidder in the hushed salesroom for a 1938 Brough Superior 750cc BS4. This deservedly applauded milestone result for one of only seven survivors of the ten Brough fours built was also the highest price ever paid for any British motorcycle at auction. To find out more, take a look at the latest auction commentary here on CCFS.

Four Candles!

Location: Gard, France 30960

Must make that the most expensive side valve Austin Seven engine ever

As by per coincidence, my new ALTA brought superior heads turned up today fully machined.

At those prices for austin 7 engines I'll have to put the prices up.

Tony

Location: HUNCOTE on the pig

Tony's new head!

I wonder what cc DVLA have got them down as?

Pics of the bike here....

http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/23600/lot/296/

Thank you R, for doing the pics.

I'll keep hold of my old head, just in case!

Tony.

Location: HUNCOTE on the pig

Tony,

Those Alta 'Brough' heads should go toward restoring a few of the 10 or so bikes that (from pictures) seem to have been fitted with a standard Austin 7 head.

Tony.

hi tony,

i hope they sell. either to the brough boys, or austin 7 boys.

i was perhaps brave to buy all the patterns from quarry in the first place.

i worked out i need to sell 8 1/2 out of the first batch of 10. to cover everything ive paid out on this item.

if its worth doing a second batch, who knows. ill cross that one when it comes to it.

tony

Location: huncote on the pig

The cylinder heads on Brough Austins didn't use the standard ALTA head I'm afraid. The correct head has the letters BS cast within an oval on the offside and has a few vertical fins along the length of the head. Someone is already making them. If you look very closely at the auction bike you can see these points, although it's difficult to make out the BS, but you can see the oval and the fins. Dave Clark is building a replica Austin Brough and he has a nice new correct head on it.

Location: France

You are right of course but the new product from Tony would be preferable to the standard Seven head seen on some Broughs.
Surprising that someone would make a reproduction Brough Alta head for ten bikes but then if you have bought a Brough four then money is probably no object.

Tony.

I have been concenteating my efforts on local houses but these only escalate by 1/6 the Brough price per annum. Perhaps I should have applied more effort in the workshop.

Has anyone got a complete set of Brough drawings?

I have some new pre war plugs if anyone requires for originality. A snip at L500 each.

I can almost understand historic road and racing bikes attaining high prices but this low powered concoction seems a weird device to worship.

What would a similarly odd Ner a Car or Militaire fetch?

I hope Lawrences bike has not been found. It would be worth making and "finding" a replica.

Location: Auckland, NZ

Lawrence owned seven Broughs and number eight was on order when he was killed on his seventh. That bike, GW 2275 was found under a tarpaulin in Gosport in 1961 and the chap who found it ( Les Perrin ) was given it free, but had to pay the old owner £1 to deliver it. How times have changed.

I guess of the few remaining Brough Fours there may be one or two with wrong heads. I'm not sure where Dave Clarke got his new BS head from, or if anymore are available. I'll do a bit of homework and try to get some buyers for you for your heads, but no guarantees I'm afraid.

Location: France

Hi Tony,

In the past I've had several people building copy's of the brough, asking me foe heads with angled plugs.

They haven't been bothered if the heads have BS or ALTA. They just want the angled plugs.

last year I emptied a shed in North London, of parts from a previous brough owner.

He had bust the bell house on the crankcase. In the spares was the original broken engine from the brough, wich is sitting in my garden at the moment. It can with three aloy heads two were this type of flat ALTA. Both had been used on the bike.

Both heads were in poor condition, both sold on eBay last year for good money, to brough enthusiasts.

Don't forget these heads can be used on any austin 7 engined bike. Or CAR.

Showed one to Alex at pigsty today, he picked up very quickly on the hight of the chamber. It should have very good gas flow.

Tony.

Location: HUNCOTE on the pig

Does the proper 'BS' inclined plug head have 18mm or 14mm plugs?

Hi Sam,

I think the BS would be 18mm

I've probably had 20+ ORIGINAL ALTA heads over the years. And I beleive they were all 18mm.

My new ones are 14mm because there is more choice of plugs available.

The choice on 18mm gets less every year.

I'll see if I can get a pic sorted of the original I have.

Tony.

Location: HUNCOTE on the pig

On EBay at the moment is a photo of a Brough Four at the 1931 motorcycle show. It has no visible finning, just the BS lettering. So, even the ten bikes may have had different heads when new.

Just for interest - this is the 1932 Brough in the National Motorcycle Museum. It's a lovely thing and if a rough one is worth £390K goodness knows what this would make.

Click picture for full image

Location: North Herts

Were the original Alta heads made by the Alta Car and Engineering Company at Surbiton in Surrey? Very low tech compared with their own cars but maybe just a money earner

So if I offer them £3K to take it off their hands (allowing a bit for the resto) do you think they'd let me have it...:-)

Location: North Herts

"Just for interest - this is the 1932 Brough in the National Motorcycle Museum"

There is a need for an Alta head for a start !

Tony.

"Were the original Alta heads made by the Alta Car and Engineering Company at Surbiton in Surrey? Very low tech compared with their own cars but maybe just a money earner"

Alta was apparently one of the first commercially available replacement heads in aluminium, originally produced by Geoffrey Taylor who went on to make the Alta sports and racing cars.

Tony.

Were the Brough cylinder heads actually made by Alta?
The only common features between the Brough and Alta heads are that they both fit an Austin Seven, they are both made of aluminium and they both have spark plugs angled at the side.
Otherwise completely different?

The NMM Brough appears to have a 'normal' engine number. If it were an engine sold out of Longbridge to Brough would this be the case?

What came first? The Alta head or the BS head? If it were the BS and it were made by Alta for Brough then Geoffrey Taylor would have already been making his own cars which started in 1929, and thus the heads would not be his first venture. If it were the Alta head that came first, why did it have angled plugs? When was the Alta head first advertised?

The model sold by Bonhams has an engine with the number stamped 131039. Around March '31? The bike was registered '38

Location: Melton Mowbray

According to the sale room info at Bonhams the 750 BS4 auctioned was fitted with the wrong front forks and the new owner will have to source the proper ones from somewhere if he wants it to be authentic. They'll be available at Steptoe & Sons.com on the shelf between rocking horse shyte and uncorn horns.

Location: Gard, France 30960

The bike in the National Motorcycle Museum is a clone, made by Albert Wallis about thirty years ago. It's a clone of the scrapped Anglesey bike EY4321, so it would have a standard Seven engine, as the original was lost. Albert had his own genuine example to use as reference. Albert's Brough was the last Brough George Brough rode, shortly before his death, ( a few more useless facts ).

Location: France

The May issue of The Automobile (just arrived - the postal system is getting worse) has a slightly 'over the top' article on Brough including the BS 4 which mentions that a German collector owns the 1931 Olympia Motorcycle Show BS4.
The article notes that the recent barn find bike was the one owned by Hubert Chantry and famously ridden backwards around Picadilly Circus.
(I think I have seen a film clip showing George Brough riding the BS4 backwards)
This issue has full page advertisement for the Bonhams auction of the 'Broughs of Bodmin Moor'- suggested price for the 'BS4 project' was £80,000 - £120,000 ??

The article on the Brough four in the 'Companion' suggests that the BS4 Austin 7 engines were ordered from Longbridge as required - the first one or two possibly having Ulster parts, later standard engines bored out to 800cc with balanced crankshafts, polished rods, an aluminium head made for them by Alta and either Amal 22V or Zenith 22FZ carburettor.

Tony.

Henry asked "Were the Brough cylinder heads actually made by Alta?"

Not sure - all the pictures I have seen of Alta heads are without the 'Brough' fins, but the two Alta heads (side plugs and top plugs) shown on the Speedex site have combustion chambers a little like the original low compression head whereas the two Alta heads (side plugs and top plugs) shown in A7CA magazine 1989A article Silvertops for the Austin Seven show combustion chambers more like the '1937' head. The water outlet manifold moves location on both types of Alta head.

It is likely that Geoffrey Taylor continued making the aluminium Alta heads for some time after starting car manufacture- I have a picture of the cover of an 8 page brochure for Alta Cylinder heads - supposedly from the 30's.

Tony.

I am building a replica using parts from 1934. I have built Radiators to specification, and I am now busy with the rear drive unit. We made a pattern and we have finished the first alloy casting. An interesting project I must say. If someone can show me how to post pictures I will upload (does not seem to be a button to allow)

Location: Johannesburg

Splendid project Paul! Congratulations.

Location: Sunny Brittany

I use Tinypic picture hosting.

[https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=tinypic&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=qt-uV9ueK-rZgAa7g4q4AQ]

You need to register and log in and you can then upload your photos to a specified reduction (message board)
Once it is uploaded you can then go to your picture and cut/paste the code to your post on the forum page.

Now hurry up and do that, we want to see the photos!

Thanks for the picture assistance. Here are the bits and pieces (The pictures with the wheels is an old attempt at a rear drive which has now been replaced with real measurements. I visited a private owner who allowed me to take measurements

Very impressive, I love the detailing on the sidecar too.

Looks very good Paul.
What's the car in the picture showing the sidecar?

Location: Near M1 Motorway Jtn 28

That a 1922 Wolseley Doctors Coupe.