1960 Royal Enfield Constellation, 693 cc. Registration numbe...

Hammer

£4,900

1960 Royal Enfield Constellation, 693 cc. Registration number VMW 994. Frame number 916. Engine number SB 10297.
Like BSA and Triumph before it, Royal Enfield went on to enlarge its 500 cc twin, eclipsing its rivals with the 700 cc Meteor, Britain's largest vertical twin at the time of its introduction for 1953. The crankcase remained fundamentally unchanged but the bore/stroke dimensions and engine top-end were those of the 350 Bullet, doubled up and restyled. Extensive revisions to the engine and the adoption of a new frame (shared with the Bullet singles) ushered in the Super Meteor in the autumn of 1955. While the Super Meteor was a fine performer, Enfield's next development - the Constellation - was outstanding. Based on its immediate predecessor, the new sportster featured a 51 bhp engine, revised frame and a handsome 4.25 gallon fuel tank. On test with Motor Cycling magazine in Belgium a Constellation recorded a top speed of 115 mph while averaging 51 mpg, impressive figures by any standard.
VMW 994 was first registered on the 13th April 1960 and had a long term owner for some 43 years before being sold as a non-runner to another gentleman; he did nothing with it before selling it to Barry Futter of Spalding in 2007, who set about getting it back on the road, whilst preserving as much originality as possible. The engine had a full rebuild at about 31,000 miles along with a new exhaust system and a the magneto was rebuilt. Since then it has only covered some 12,000 miles. Our vendor purchased it in March 2015 and has covered some 500 miles in his ownership.
Sold with the V5C, a current MOT until May 2018, old MOT's from 2008 onwards, old tax discs and various receipts related to the restoration.