Description
This motorcycle is Lot 345 to be auctioned by Bonhams at The Autumn Stafford Sale (The Classic Motorcycle Mechanics Show) on October 10th – 11th, please see the Bonhams Motorcycles Website for full details.
Auction Timings:
Lots 201 - 407 are to be sold from 11AM local time on Sunday 11th October 2026.
Public Viewing:
Available 10th & 11th October 2026 from 09:00 until 17:00, at The Staffordshire County Showground (The Classic Motorcycle Mechanics Show).
Lot 345
Believed formerly owned by Dorothy L Sayers
1925 Ner-a-Car 285cc
Registration no. ** 9917
Frame no. unable to locate
Engine no. 5073
The private vendor advises that this Ner-a-Car is believed to have been formerly owned by Dorothy L Sayers, the renowned English crime novelist, playwright, translator and critic, and that the registration number is associated with her ownership. The machine is also said to have featured in her novel Five Red Herrings.
Dorothy L Sayers is known to have owned and ridden a Ner-a-Car during the 1920s while working as an advertising copywriter in London. Contemporary accounts describe her riding the machine bolt upright, 'as if driving a chariot'. It is further recorded that she undertook lengthy journeys on her Ner-a-Car, including a trip from London to her parents' home in Christchurch, and used the machine to visit her son, John Anthony, who was being raised by relatives in Oxfordshire.
Writing in MotorSport magazine's Cars in Books series in June 1996, editor Bill Boddy had this to say about the publication under review (Dorothy L Sayers's Letters (Edited by Barbara Reynolds, Hodder & Stoughton, 1995): "And here is yet another non-motoring book in which Brooklands is mentioned - Dorothy Sayers confessing to having become quite a habitué by the summer of 1926, but finding that the motorcycles appeared faster at first than the cars... She also had a Ner-a-Car motorcycle, which at first gave much trouble but after it had been taken to pieces went better, but with not very good hill-climbing powers, so that it was confined to comparatively flat country and she later looked for a more powerful outfit."
Prospective purchasers are invited to make their own enquiries regarding this fascinating association.
Although missing its engine cover, this motorcycle retains a number of appealing period features including a Gough's Ner-a-Car saddle; Lucas 'King of the Road' headlamp; and a Raydot rear lamp. Also present is a tax disc that expired on 31st July 2007, which may well be when the machine was last used.
On file is an old-style duplicate logbook issued in 1964 and listing the owner at that time as one Iain Stewart of Paisley. The current vendor is listed as 1st Change (entry undated). No earlier history is known. Additional paperwork consists of old/ current V5C documents.
Following a period of inactivity, this motorcycle will require recommissioning and/ or restoration to a greater or lesser extent before returning to the road and thus is sold strictly as viewed. Prospective purchasers should satisfy themselves with regard to this motorcycle's completeness, history, authenticity, originality and mechanical condition prior to bidding.
£3, 000 - 4, 000
All lots are sold ‘as is/ where is’ and Bidders must satisfy themselves as to the provenance, condition, age, completeness, mileage, engine capacity and originality prior to bidding. Visit the Bonhams Motorcycles website for all pertinent auction information.
