A Brief History of the Marque
Toreador were motorcycles produced from 1925 to 1928 at works at Ribble Bank Mills, Preston, Lancashire, to a design by Bert Houlding. Toreador History...
Mon Oct 31 2011
peter.houlding<at>xtra.co.nz
Toreador and Matador motorbikes
Toreador Matador
Bert Houlding and Sons did not build these two types of motorbike.
(It was not formed as a company until after WWII). They were built by my
grandfather, Bert Senior, under the auspices of The Toreador Engineering
Company and The Matador Engineering Company respectively. My father Bert
Jnr was the older of the two brothers who joined their father in the business
which he formed after WWII. That business did no manufacturing - they were
known as Carburettor Specialists.
There was no Bert in the family prior to Bert Senior, whose father's name was William (there seems to be a lot of confusion about this). Granddad also had a company which overlapped with his other ventures called Houlding and Co -'The Motorcycle People' - and he is shown sitting ouside its premises in Preston (Lancashire) in 1920 on an Indian machine, for which he had distribution rights in the North-West.
Auckland
If you have a query about Toreador or Matador motorcycles please contact us
