Description
This motorcycle is Lot 299 - To be auctioned by Bonhams at The Spring Stafford Sale (The International Classic MotorCycle Show) on 26th & 27th April, please see the Bonhams website for full details.
Auction Timings:
Lots 101 - 147 are to be sold from 14:00 on Saturday 26th April 2025.
Lots 201 - 410 are to be sold from 11:00 on Sunday 27th April 2025.
Public Viewing:
Available 26th & 27th April 2025 from 09:00 until 17:00, at The Stafford County Showground (The International Classic MotorCycle Show).
Lot 299
1913 Douglas 2¾hp 'TT Model'
Registration no. MX 6762
Frame no. 10286
Engine no. 9774 (see text)
1913 Isle of Man TT practice bike
Only three private owners since 1949
Present ownership since 2021
Pioneer Run participant
Last ridden on the Graham Walker Run in 2021
Seemingly well preserved and unmolested, this Pioneer-era Douglas was purchased by the private vendor - formerly Editor-in-Chief at Autocar magazine - from Verralls in April 2021 and has not required any work since purchase. It is recorded in the Douglas Club Register as a 'TT Model' because, according to the long-term previous owner, it was bought by a 1913 TT competitor and used as a practice bike, hence the low bars, knee pads and competition exhaust. However, the Douglas was not raced.
Accompanying documentation includes the following: a Middlesex-issued old-style logbook, listing the machine as a TT Model registered to a Mr Walter Desmond Fair of Teddington. This logbook records the date of first registration as February 1921, this being shortly after the introduction of the Roads Act of 1920, which required local councils to register all vehicles at the time of licensing and to allocate a separate number to each. (Many vehicles, although in existence for several years in some cases, were only registered for the first time after the Act's passing).
Also on file is a continuation logbook (issued March 1968) exhibiting the first typographical error regarding the engine number (see below). Owners listed are Basil Budgett of Reigate (with a date of 1949) and J Peters (the previous owner) also of Reigate, who acquired the machine in 1975. Additional paperwork includes two old V5Cs and two old V5s in the name of the previous keeper; an almost complete run of MoT certificates for the period 1969 to 1998; three Pioneer Certificates (two in Budgett's name, one in Peters' name); a March 1997 press cutting from The Mirror covering that year's Pioneer Run, with an inset image of Peters aboard 'MX 6762'; a specification sheet; and a reproduction Douglas Peace Programme.
'MX 6762' was last ridden on the 2021 Graham Walker Run, which it successfully completed, the vendor noting that it 'ran like a watch'. The machine was last started in the summer of 2023 and therefore may require recommissioning to a greater or lesser extent before further use. It should be noted that the aforementioned registration documents record the engine number as '9974' as opposed to '9774' (an in-period typo).
All lots are sold 'as is/ where is' and Bidders must satisfy themselves as to the provenance, condition, age, completeness and originality prior to bidding. Visit the Bonhams Motorcycles website for all pertinent auction information.
