What A beauty!

a 1952 Vincent 998cc Black Shadow,

but not just any old Black Shadow, this was the bike that was used in the world record speed trials in Montlhery, France, in May 1952, where the bike set a six-hour record at more than 100mph, just think back to 1952 what other bike or car could even do anything near that sort of speed straight out of the box so to speak? also think about this, any 1,000cc motorcycle today can hit 150 mph, but the Black Shadow was doing that sixty years ago,

the tiny British company, selling Vincent motorcycles, was so far ahead of its time that it wasn't until the 1970s that Japanese manufacturers came along with faster production machines, the Vincent Black Shadow - so called because the entire vehicle was painted black - was bought by motorcycle dealer George Petch, from Grimsby, Lincolnshire, in 1970 and he rode it for a few years before taking it apart for restoration, it wasn't until he approached a motorcycle expert 11 years ago that the classic machine was restored, His bike was the top-selling lot at the International Classic Motorcycle Show at the weekend, it went for £113,500, would like one?

let me just say that I would like my old one back, this is it above, a 1949 series B Rapide with the later series C Rapide Girdraulic front forks,

and somewhere along the line up there is my trusty series B Rapide, I took this picture at the 50th anniversary of the production of the series B, a special event was held by the Vincent Owners Club to mark the anniversary, if only I had not needed the money for a new roof at the time I would still hopefully have it now, happy days.