1932 Cotton-Blackburne ONV, 350 cc. Registration number EAS ...

Hammer

£5,000

1932 Cotton-Blackburne ONV, 350 cc. Registration number EAS 156 (non-transferable). Frame number 8233. Engine number TBC.
Gloucester-based Cotton established its reputation with a string of racing successes in the 1920's thanks to an innovative frame patented by its founder, Frank Willoughby Cotton. Cotton's design featured four straight tubes running from the steering head to the rear spindle, augmented by further straight stays supporting the gearbox and engine. The result was a stiff, lightweight chassis far in advance of the bicycle-derived diamond type of frame used by the majority manufacturers. Like other small independent firms Cotton relied on propriety engines such as Villiers, JAP and Blackburne, but such was the advantage conferred by its frame the Cotton had little trouble seeing off similarly powered rivals.
The legendary Stanley Woods made his Isle of Man TT debut on a Cotton in 1922, going on to win the Junior event at record speed the following year. Countless wins and placing's were achieved in International events throughout the 1920's; Cotton's finest TT achievement occurring in 1926 when its entries finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the 250 cc Lightweight class.
Blackburne produced motorcycles from 1913 until 1922, after which they were a major engine supplier to some 70 motorcycle manufacturers; they ceased production in 1937.
EAS 156 was first registered on the 39th December 1932 as AMY 682 in the Greater London area and then resurfaced in 1946 with a Robert Lamond of Glensee by Blairgowrie in Scotland, followed by William Smith and then Charles Cruickshank, both of Angus and by 1955 she was with Duncan Keir in Aberdeenshire. AMY then goes off the radar until November 2001 when she is acquired by a George Jas of Bradford and he places the number on retention and she is issued with an age related EAS 156. He sold her to our vendor in May 2002 and he has enjoyed many years of gentle motoring but he has now decided to thin out his collection.
She is presented in good condition with Druid forks, a Burman gearbox and Dunlop rims; sold with the R.F. 60A, V5, V5C, various old MOT's and tax discs.