Registration No: GDG 339
Frame No: R2090
Engine No: F10AB/1/91
CC: 1000
MOT: Exempt

• This Series B Rapide was sold new by Williams, of Cheltenham, in July 1947
• We are advised that Vincent Owners Club records confirm that the frame and engine numbers match
• 'GDG 399' is one of the documented exceptions to the ‘1900 difference’ rule of thumb
• Rapide engine numbers for 1946, the first year of Series B production, from 20 - 400, making this machine with engine number ’91’ a very early Series B Rapide
• The machine left the Stevenage factory on 20th May 1947 and was unknown to the Vincent Owners Club since 1950.
• Purchased by the current owner in 2004 and restored to an extremely high standard
• It comes complete with its continuation RF60, V5C, a Test Certificate from 1967, and some invoices for parts
• Due to storage, light recommissioning would be advised before use

Introduced post war, the Vincent-HRD Rapide Series B went into production in 1946. The fastest motorcycle you could buy, at the time. Unit construction allowed Vincent to combine the engine and gearbox into a single casing. Philip Vincent summarised his frame design philosophy in his memoirs, writing "What isn't present takes up no space, cannot bend, and weighs nothing — so eliminate the frame tubes!

‘GDG 339’ had several owners prior to 1959, as documented in the accompanying old-style logbook, and has been kept in dry storage since c.1966 when its then-owner - a Mr. Cooper - dismantled it and rebuilt the engine. Invoices for parts supplied by Ross Motors Ltd, of Hinckley, are included in the sale together with an expired tax disc dated June 1967. This machine was fitted with a sidecar sometime in its life.

For more information, please contact:
Mike Davis
mike.davis@handh.co.uk
07718 584217