1926 Brough Superior SS100 Alpine Grand Sports

SOLD

The frame numbering sequence was now changed to a new 800 Series, with suffix ‘A’ added to signify an Alpine Grand Sports model. The 1926 catalogue shows only four models, with the ‘AGS’ being the most expensive of the range at £170. The prototype AGS ridden by George Brough in the 1925 Alpine Trial was given the frame number 801A. It is also interesting to note that frame 808A was purchased in October 1925 by Col. T. E. Lawrence, also known as Lawrence of Arabia, as his fifth Brough. It was this SS100 that was extensively photographed at Cranwell with Lawrence riding it and is the bike with which he famously raced a Bristol Fighter with!

Like the Lawrence Brough, 820A is a 1926 SS100 AGS also manufactured in late-1925 and was dispatched on 21st January 1926 to Frank Hallam, the Birmingham Brough Superior agent. The Works Record Card confirms the following: frame number 820A (RH) (A referring to Alpine Grand Sports; RH referring to taper roller bearing head) and engine number KTOR/T 49351. A letter included in the history file from October 1939 to then owner TS Brown states, “Your engine numbered KTOR/T 49351 is an 8/45 HP OHV racing model which left the works in November 1925 and is therefore a 1926 Model”. The works record also indicates that 820A was supplied with carrier and bags and a Karslake side stand. It was dispatched by Midland railway 21st January 1926 to Frank Hallam and subsequently registered in Birmingham on 22nd August 1926 as ‘OP 813’.

The next recorded owner on the surviving continuation registration document is Thomas Sidney Brown, who is known to have owned OP 813 since at least 1939, from the surviving J.A.P Letter. Mr Brown sold the bike to Arnie Clapham, of Yorkshire, in 1962, who neither used nor registered the machine in his name. He did, however, record possession of OP 813 in the first issue of the Brough Superior Register in August 1964. The vendor purchased the bike from Mr Clapham in 1976, together with an original Brough Superior Instruction book, a JAP reference book, and the aforementioned letter from JAP in 1939.

OP 813 was sold in 1979 to a Richard Gulvin, of the Brough Superior Club, who neither used nor registered the machine in his name. The vendor then re-acquired the bike in 2005 and undertook a painstaking restoration beginning in 2006 and ending in 2010. The KTOR engine was rebuilt to its correct specification, and the original cylinder heads, which had been converted to twin plug, were rebuilt to correct single plug specification. Using the rebuilt engine, OP 813 was completely restored from 2009–2010 by a noted Brough Superior specialist. During the restoration, a correct and exceedingly rare original and early five-inch Webb front hub was sourced after the original had been replaced by a larger eight-inch Enfield front brake in a bid to improve the machines stopping power.

During its restoration, OP 813 was exhibited at the Brough Superior Golden Jubilee in August 2008, and in 2010, following its completion, it was awarded the Baragwanath Trophy for the best JAP-Engined SS100 at the annual Brough Superior Club rally. Since 2010, the machine has been ridden sparingly, with less than 100 miles in total.