Vintage British Motorcycles
Choice of Champions
Devoid of Trouble
Birdwood Mill
The Great Unwashed
Phil Irving's Masterpiece
Birmingham Small Arms
Notes on some of the rarer British marques
This page lists brands for which we currently have only an historical precis.
For a more complete listing visit the British Index.
Harding
Manufactured in Bath by Gordon and Loxley in 1921, their focus was on invalid carriages, which they built under government contract during WWII. Production ceased in the early 1950s.
Some post-war models used Cyclemaster engines.
Hayes
Hayes of London built engines fitted to the Powerful of 1903.
Haythorn 1939
Hedingham Sidecars
Manufactured by Keith Wash, Unit Sidecars, 12 Wethersfield Rd., Sible Hedingham, Essex CO9 3LB, England.
Later, Adrian Robberts of Dorset bought the business.
The first Hedingham was the XL built in 1983. The main model from the 80s is described as having a fibrglass body, torsion bar suspension, and an optional disc brake. Hedingham also supplied leading link forks.
Others mentioned are the personal machine of Keith Wash, the "Asphalt Animal", and the Blue Max of 1988. The Aspire model is fully enclosed.
A post relates that the ETH enduro model was distributed in Germany by Uwe Schmidt in 1993.
"Unit Sidecars History V1.1" pdf would no doubt give considerably more information, but sadly it is not available.
Sources: Gespann-Lexikon. Hal Kendall, hedinghamclub.co.uk ✝, sidecarland.co.uk, et al.
Henri Baldet
Based on the Renault Dauphine, this microcar with a single wheel at the rear was revealed in Britain in 1957. With the appearance of a miniature sports car, it had dual windscreens and seated two abreast. The steering wheel was on the left, so it may in fact have been an import.
Source: 3wheelers.com, et al
Hertschmann c.1897
Holcroft 1¾ HP 1901
Built as a one-off in 1901, Holcroft himself became a specialist in the railway industry who ran a large foundry between 1904 and 1928 and held numerous patents for steam technology. The machine spent several years in Sammy Miller's museum before making its way to Austria, where it was further restored. It has a Mitchel 213cc engine mounted in Humber frame.
Source: Hannes Denzel article at mvca.at.
Holden 1925
Howecette
The Howecette was created by Mr Bob Howard in 1968 using the engine and chassis of a Velocette (initially a 500 MAC, later a Venom) and elements of the front end from a Ford Popular.
The single-seater had an aluminium body. Only one was built.
Youtube (starts at 2m 15s) https://youtu.be/YTK8beSYhg8?si=ylSojGkORkn7qdrA&t=136
Source: 3-wheelers.com
Hudson Spirit
Manufactured by Hudson Component Cars, Norwich from c.1998 to c.1998.
The first model, a three-wheeler, was the Free Spirit. The single seater sports machine based on the Renault R-5 Le Car which Hudson fitted to their own chassis and GRP bodywork. A second model, the Kindred Spirit, had a lengthened chassis allowing for either a second seat or luggage compartment behind the driver's seat.
In Britain a variety of engines were offered, but the US version was only available with the 1397cc Renault engine.
Source: 3-wheelers.com
Hurley-Pugh
Hurley-Pugh Motor Bicycles was a subsidiary of Hurley-Pugh Airplane Company, located in Scunthorpe. It was was established in 1904 by Sir John Hurley and Alaric Pugh.
Pugh's daughter Charlotte Pugh-Henderson married John Pistonock, famed inventor of the thrunging sprocket.
Sources: hurley-pugh.co.uk, et al
Hutfield-JAP c.1909
Rarer British Marques
