Vincent Motorbikes
Making the world's fastest motorcycles
By John Bland
I joined the company after coming out of the RAF in 1949. Vincent Engineers at Stevenage were in the process of making revolutionary motorcycles. I was by this time a keen motorcyclist and I joined them in the Engine Assembly Shop. So many of us worked there just because of our enthusiasm, rather than for the money! Many of us made our own motor bikes, and raced. One of the photos shows me on my 250cc Velocette. The firm had many records, including World Fastest in 1955, and photos also show me on that streamline bike when it came back for re-furbishing.
Another interesting development at Vincents, again ahead of its time, was a water scooter. Ours was called an ‘Amanda’ and the three photos show myself, my wife and Mr Vincent himself on the first models, testing them in the canal at Hertford.
I left the company in 1959 after we went into Receivership for the second time. I continue to keep in contact with the Vincent Owners’ Club.
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I started at Alleynes in 1956/7 and we could look over the fence into Vincent factory yard (latterly The Grange), and there were a few of those (Amanda) water scooters awaiting disposal. I seem to remember that as the cause of Vincent’s demise – two drownings in the US(?) – with costly litigation.
when you click the + symbol against the thumbnail pictures they come to centre screen but actually get smaller. Is this what you intended? It would be nice to see more detail but many thanks for posting.
[Andy, the reason the images are shown small is that these are very low-resolution images. I.e., they are composed of a small number of pixels. If they were printed larger, you still wouldn’t be able to see any more detail. Ed.]