Rlangham Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 Here are two original photographs from my personal collection, each dating from the First World War This first one, from a photograph dated 28th February 1916, is a Douglas 2 3/4hp machine, 350cc. This was a very common Despatch Rider motorcycle and appears in a lot of photographs - during the First World War, Douglas, based in Kingswood, Bristol, produced over 70,000 motorcycles for the military. This shows the same type of Douglas that Ron, our group's Despatch Rider, is currently restoring. This nice photograph shows a Douglas 4hp 600cc motorcycle combination, fitted with a Douglas sidecar. The straight front forks (compare it with the angled ones on the 2 3/4hp) show that it is, at earliest, a 1916 built motorcycle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 Unusually (for this country), much of the old Douglas factory is still existant. The old company sports ground has been built over in recent years but almost all of the original factory buildings are still there. Also, it is still owned by the same line of companies. Douglas evolved over the years (building and assembling Douglas Vespas in their later years), and eventually became part of Westinghouse Brake and Signals in the early eighties, who then became Westinghouse Brakes before being sold to Knorr-Bremse. KB still own and operate the site. I've been round a couple of times and there are still many original features to be seen. There has been talk for many years that the site will be sold for homes, but there is a campaign to save it. The office block on Hanham Road is listed, but the rest of the site is not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retriever Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 I have a 1918 Douglas 350cc 2 3/4 hp ex wd motorcycle. no kickstart no clutch brakes almost non existant but still a great ride, you can feel the quality of manufacture. Its very unusual but I know its history since demob in 1919. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 I have a 1918 Douglas 350cc 2 3/4 hp ex wd motorcycle. no kickstart no clutch brakes almost non existant but still a great ride, you can feel the quality of manufacture. Its very unusual but I know its history since demob in 1919. Photo's please... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rlangham Posted September 23, 2009 Author Share Posted September 23, 2009 Nice, i'd love to see photographs too. My friends Douglas is I believe a 1915 one - apparently the oral history of the guy that rode it during the war is in the IWM which i'm going to go down and record at some point Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted September 25, 2009 Share Posted September 25, 2009 Cracking pictures. I would love to have one of those, but kind of a bit busy reaelly. Tim (too) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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