Description
This motorcycle is Lot 7 of Bonhams Motorcycles Online – The Summer Sale; open for bidding 5-15th June 2026. This Lot is available for public view and eventual collection from Bonhams Motorcycle Department, Milton Keynes.
Please see the Bonhams website for full details.
Auction Timings:
Bidding on all Lots commences Friday 5 June, 12:00 noon.
Bidding closes Monday 15 June, 12:00 noon, starting with Lot 1
Each subsequent Lot will then close one minute apart unless bidding remains active.
Public Viewing (BY APPOINTMENT ONLY):
All Lots:
Wednesday 10 June, 9am - 5pm
Thursday 11 June, 9am - 5pm
Please email using the button below with your availability to schedule an appointment.
Lot 7
1937 BSA 750cc Y13
Registration no. JE 3466
Frame no. HY13. 504
Engine no. HY13. 441
During the 1930s BSA concentrated on producing an extensive and varied range of dependable, well-made and competitively priced motorcycles. The majority of these were singles but for the sidecar market BSA offered the Model G 985cc sidevalve v-twin and, for the more sportingly inclined rider, a smaller overhead-valve v-twin, the 499cc Model J. Somewhat surprisingly, given its complexity, the newcomer had originally been developed for the War Office. Predictably, it was rejected by the latter, which tended to favour sidevalve singles for military use, and appeared for the first time in civilian guise in the 1934 range as the J34-11. Typed J35-12 the following year, it was joined by a 750cc version, the Y13, before ceasing production at the end of 1936 as the J12. Although the '500' had gone, the 750cc v-twin continued until the end of the 1938 season. The model featured twin exhausts on the right-hand side to facilitate attachment of a sidecar. Produced for only three years, the handsome Y13 is today one of the rarest and most sought after of all 1930s BSAs.
A letter on file dated 30th May 1975 from Norton Triumph Limited to the late owner shows that this BSA is a matching-numbers machine dispatched to Messrs Rose & Son of March, Cambridgeshire on 15th May 1937 and was originally geared for sidecar use. Very kindly, the letter's writer gave the late vendor two transfers from his own stock with his compliments. Dated 2nd January 1974, another letter on file (from the previous owner) describes their history with the BSA, including details of where they took it on holiday, trips to the Isle of Man TT, and all over the UK for holidays with a 'Double Adult' sidecar attached (see letter for more details). Not used for some time, this motorcycle will need recommissioning and possibly more extensive restoration before returning to the road and thus is sold strictly as viewed. The machine is offered with an old-style V5 registration document; an old-style RF60 logbook (1957); the aforementioned letters; and an invoice from Ken Julian Motorcycles of Oakham where the late owner had traded in three motorcycles to purchase the BSA.
£10, 000 - 15, 000
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.
