The Quad at Beaulieu

I went during the summer to the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu. We discussed the bikes in another post, but I want to concentrate this one on the quad. The museum claims it is a 1900, although I have read that this was the factory prototype and contains pieces from 1898-1902. It was kept at the Redditch factory museum and moved to Beaulieu in 1958. It is the one that was featured in Top Gear. Here I would like to show some peculiar features of the vehicle.




First, dedicated to David Blasco and his eternal quest for mirrors, the vehicle has a mirror! Difficult to say if that was there originally or if it was added later,

Interesting springer mechanism for the back of the seat of the passenger,

Here's a picture of the engine from above,

And here from the front, featuring the AMAL carburetor,

And here is the gas tank from the side, showing the words "Royal Enfield" elegantly handwritten,

I was always intrigued by the round emblem in the middle, and here was my chance to find out, here is a closeup,

It says "De Dion Bouton, Marquee Deposee", which I guess means "De Dion Bouton trademark". Which calls me to wonder: did Royal Enfield just pull a job of badge engineering taking a De Dion Bouton quad and hand painting "Royal Enfield" on it? We already noticed that the trike was very similar to the De Dion Bouton and we knew the engine was made by De Dion Bouton, but how much of this trike was Enfield mad in the end? I guess we will never quite know.