3 Rare Additions to the Museum ⭐️⭐️⭐️

We have 3 rare new additions to the Museum to show you today! 🏍

After a successful trip to Ledbury in Herefordshire for a motorcycle auction, Sammy is excited to show you his acquisitions, which will now be re-homed in New Milton!

In order of appearance..

1. 1929 Francis-Barnett 196cc “The Brooklands Flier”

2. 1952 Ariel Square Four Mk. 1

On display in the Museum for over a year, this machine is now undergoing a cosmetic restoration through Jim’s meticulous work and unrivalled Ariel expertise!

3. 1929-30 Calthorpe Speedway Motorcycle

4. 1930 Norton Speedway Motorcycle (one of 52 made in its only year of production)

5. 1949 AJS 7R “Boy Racer”

The same bike that Sammy rode to glory in the 1954 Cookstown 100 at 20 years of age.

There are some anniversaries that Sammy doesn’t mind celebrating! 70 years on since his first major road race victory, he was very happy to don his racing leathers and put the 7R through its paces again 😄

We hope you enjoy this feast of the senses! 🎇

By the way, we now have new Limited Edition T-Shirts in stock, available to buy from our Online Shop: https://sammymiller.co.uk/shop/?orderby=date

right Another Day in Paradise we’ve had uh five new additions to the collection we bought this at um auction at ladbury on Saturday little Brooklyn’s Francis bnet um 196 C Sports engine quite interesting Francis Bonnet did quite well well Meen and so forth at Brookland obviously in the small classes so um lovely little bike and of course close to Miller his first bike was a 1929 Francis Barnett same year as this uh posy lube and uh we’ve got a replica or a similar model in the museum so there you go Francis bornett Brooklyn’s racer R the bank circuit serious uh bit of gear we move on to the next one which is um Jim’s new project okay this is um a bike out of the museum it’s been here for a year or two it was a donation it’s 1952 aerial Square for Mark 1 um it’s a bit it’s it’s an older restoration so it’s a bit scruffy and a bit neglected so uh we’ve opted to strip it down do a cosmetic restoration on it and um strip it down now and inspecting all the parts um any minor repairs to be done before stuff goes for painting mechanically it’s very good the engine had been rebuilt previously and Sammy and I have both ridden it when the when the bike arrived here so mechanically it sound quite unique it’s got aluminum Barrel on the heads on it which quite spectacular really and um they were being produced at AAL before I arrived I arrived at a in 58 by that time they’d gone to the the more modern uh twin Port job so um this is an interim part of the development 14 1949 the mark ones were the all alloy to penned up until 1953 when the Mark I came out with the four pipes right this is another acquisition we got at Pew’s auction Leb calthorp of course they made the ivory calthorp we’ve got some in the museum but I took a shine to this lovely bit of gear calor Speedway bike 1929 so uh as you see very big wheels in it lovely strutted frame nice air box in it this side oil tank the other side and um Cal Thor engine this is actually a 350 twin valve uh so rigid forks no suspension front or rear which um Speedway man in those days if you come around this side it didn’t seem to bother them too much so you got your foot on there that under here so you can force the thing about on when you’re broadsiding around corners so there you go um lovely little bike oil tank fuel tank obviously run on a menthol right the Norton collection we’re very pleased we also bought this at the auction um Norton Speedway bike 1930 great bit of tip es2 engine as you can see twin Port 500 CC as usual so you can get your knee jammed on there when your broadside R Corners flat out hanging on the side of it well and d flat out so there we go um great bike good position actually so you could that’s almost made for Miller that specification there that’s jammed in there like that they only made it for one year they weren’t very successful they were far too heavy compared to the roggers and the douglases and the Cal thorps they were never really success so they only made 40 of them and um dropped them the following year but a real Norton um ethic so it joins all our Norton and this is the great man himself James lanine Norton he passed away age 56 so what he did in a short life is unbelievable that possibly is his bite that came from bris Bridge Street Norton’s when they closed down and Birmingham registration we would love to find a photograph of James riding that bike but to date maybe somebody can help us to date we’ have never find um a photograph of that registration with James on that bike but it was in the office at brast Bridge Street so obviously there was a sever connection the great AI Bell my hero Ultra gr Prix 1952 winning again so there we go we’ll now move back to the workshop what’s all this lot here then so someone donated this yesterday um father’s collection in his Workshop having a clear right so quite an interesting loot of stuff here that’s some very early tools little valve lifter job uh mag spanners all neat and tidy they’ll be useful that’s a bit of rubbish there very electronic ignition system a speedo kit which come in handy with the drive that bag Jim tells me it’s for off a stationary engine old grease guns one or two that’s a connection there where you get a swivel joint on it grease gun so they’ll clean up and go on display quite nicely Amal carburetor that’s quite intering too you see because it’s a horizontal one which are quite rare generally the carburetor sits like that but that one sits like that to give you more room at the top because the cables could come out that way they don’t have to come over the top so 9 ° float bow on it that’s good that’s another one there which is quite a mystery why would you have that shadded like that when a red glass in it like that so query job that’s a little valve course striber GL glass Co there you go all neat and tidy look all brand new that’s probably 70 years old that lot this oil can’s quite a good one you see pratts if you get the name on them it trebles the value of them that’s prats that’s a good one so we’ll clean all that up paint it put it on display in the museum see the workmanship in that probably 1920 I would think somewhere about there what’s all this lot here then well Miller’s reliving his youth a bit because the sh inside my first TRS bike that I built when I was a kid and a father bought me an e motor unit and gearbox for my birthday I think it was Miss 16th birthday or something so I made my first bike the shs so this is the same motor so I’m rebuilding as you see it must have been sitting in water so um just had a new brick plate organized some spares that’s the old cover that’s Beat to Death luckily with have a new one in stock that’s the crank of it there all in quite good shape this is the gearbox over here as you see three-speed gearbox um little village carburetor uh just had some zinc stuff back um Matthew’s brought me the zinc stuff this morning on this way here so there you go that’s we’ve had the float Bowl that’ll clean up that’s the zinc uh float ball I’ll tidy it up here’s the engine uh gims just Aqua blasted all off you put the gearbox together there and that that is on there like that and that’s your gearbox so and then your Villers um cover it that’s the early one the later one’s got a sort of a flare lined over the top but I like that one because that’s the same as the shs so that your two covers there like that so that all come together nightly Jim’s done a good job on the barrel that’s haup blasted off the barrel all perfect fins no no broken FL winds uh we’ll give it a bit of a whole out and um hey Gusto so bit of work to go so there we go now we’re going to fire up the 7R uh 1954 what’s the significance of 1954 well a 1954 Miller 70 years ago won the cook Stein 100 on uh 7R AJ same model as this oh oh