We have covered how Royal Enfield presented a bicycle to Prince (at the time) Charles, the current King Charles.
But of course, being Enfield, there had to be a story behind it. It is told in the book "Redditch. From the chip shop to the Batchley" by Tony Aston.
It turns out the author's father worked at Enfield and as such, could get significant discounts on purchases of bicycles. He was told about a special model that had been exhibited in the Earl's Court Show in London that had been fitted with many extras and decided to buy it for the author's brother. He took the money and was given a receipt by the factory buying office. It turns out that the bike had been promised to Prince Charles, to be delivered a couple of days later during a visit by the Duke of Edinburgh. The factory put a lot of pressure on the author's father to turn in the bike, but he claimed he had a receipt, the bike was his and there was "nothing they could do about that". The factory relented and a new identical bike was manufactured overnight. So the bike promised to Prince Charles ended up being ridden by the author's brother Martin. Here is a picture, courtesy of Brewin Books, copyright Tony Aston.
A delightful story, and a great find. In Photo Shop I flopped Martin's bike and superimposed it on the photo of the Prince's bike. Same size wheels and frame, the fenders match, the handlebars look the same and the rod-operated brakes appear the same. (Those brakes may have been an anomaly by 1952, thus making the bike special.) Martin's bike may have a shorter chain guard and the Prince's bike may have the cannon-themed Made Like a Gun chain wheel (Martin's doesn't, I don't think). One factor that makes the story odd is that Martin's father dared challenge his employer regarding trading the bike. Perhaps the request to return it was made by fellow workers without the supervisory status to demand its return. Or, his boss was more fair minded than any I've every known.
ReplyDeleteYou need to write a blog post about this!
DeleteMartin's bike is also missing the tire pump on the frame, but mounting points for it clearly appear there.
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