The Dormán Károly workshop in Budapest was one of the many in Hungary to enter the motorcycle market in the 1920s, as happened all over Europe at that time. Using their own frame, the father and three sons incorporated engines sourced from larger companies.
Advertisements for the firm appeared but rarely as did articles about their motorcycles, yet the firm continued to add to their wide variety of models for the better part of twenty years. Unlike their competitors, they did not seek funding from the banks.
A 1961 article on the firm's history states that the first Dorman was built using an updated Styria twin-cylinder engine, and there is a mention in 1926 of a Villiers-engined Dorman. Around the same time the machines competed using NSU and Reading V-twin engines.
In 1927 they began fitting MAG engines by Motosacoche. Sales of the hand-crafted machines were typical of small manufacturers of the period - around one or two motorcycles per month.
By 1928 they were built a machine using the Kuseff engine, a 496cc OHC high-performance single, very advanced for the day.
The following year one of the family died in a motorcycle accident, and output came to a standstill for 12 months. 1930 saw resumption of production, and British engines were added to the catalogue allowing customers to order Blackburne, JAP and Villiers in addition to the Swiss engines which were housed in Dorman-MAG motorcycles.
It is not known when production ceased, and it is thought that some 150 machines were built.
Source: Article at magyarjarmu.hu by Pál Négyesi
Unrelated to Dorman Engineering Co UK
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