Tuesday, 25 October 2016
The other Panther
Talk of the Panther monoshock made me wonder about the bikes built by Phelon & Moore that came out of Cleckheaton in West Yorkshire and whether they'd ever turned out a dirt tracker. Seems they did, right back at the dawn of speedway in the late 1920s.
But this, below, also caught my eye, a Panther-Cotton hybrid that sold at auction (I'm not sure when) for around £2500. You can get more info on the Bonhams site. Looking at these bikes now, they seem like a precursor to the laid-down motors typical of speedway's modern era.
Panther built bikes from 1904 - 1967 and the big slopers were by far their most famous models, though always more associated with sidecars than hot shoes. MP
The Panther speedway model in the photo sold at auction for 2.5k in (i think) 2008. With the growing interest in old speedway bikes it would go for double that (or probably more). It was built at the time when almost every British motorcycle company had a speedway bike in it's catalogue. Some were specifically built for speedway while others were nothing more than a stripped down version of a current model. Although the Panther certainly looks the part it doesn't seem to have be a successful bike or ever a winner on the cinders.
ReplyDeleteJust to further the point that nothings new, how about a lay down JAP speedway bike!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newcastlespeedwayhistory.co.uk/lay%20down%20jap.jpg