AUTONAUT // AUTO / CLASSICS // car / moto / news / info / T-shirts » European moto

Ducati

Autonaut — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 22:06:36 +0000

In 1926 three brothers, Adriano, Marcello and Bruno Ducati, founded Societa Scientifica Radio Brevetti Ducati in Bologna to produce tubes, condensers and other radio components, becoming successful enough by 1935 to construct a new factory in the Borgo Panigale area of the city. During the war, although the Ducati factory was a repeated target for Allied bombing, production was maintained.
Meanwhile, at the small Turinese firm SIATA (Societa Italiana per Applicazioni Tecniche Auto-Aviatorie), Aldo Farinelli began developing a small pushrod engine for mounting on bicycles. Barely a month after the official liberation of Italy in 1944, SIATA announced its intention to sell this engine, called the “Cucciolo” (Italian for “puppy,” in reference to the distinctive exhaust sound) to the public. The first Cucciolos were available alone, to be mounted on standard bicycles, by the buyer; however, businessmen soon bought the little engines in quantity, and offered complete motorized-bicycle units for sale.

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Shop classic Autonaut Ducati T-shirts at Spreadshirt Europa
Kjøp klassiske Autonaut Ducati T-skjorter hos Spreadshirt Autonaut Autoklassiker

Jawa

Autonaut — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 21:52:48 +0000

Jawa is a motorcycle manufacturer in the Czech republic, formerly Czechoslovakia. It was named after its founder Janeček bought the motorcycle production of Wanderer in 1929, by concatenating the first letters of Janeček and Wanderer.

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Royal Enfield

Autonaut — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 23:17:52 +0000

Royal Enfield was the brand of the Enfield Cycle Company, an English engineering company. Most famous for producing motorcycles, they also produced bicycles, lawnmowers, stationary engines, and even rifle parts for the Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield Lock. This legacy of weapons manufacture is reflected in the logo, a cannon, and their motto “Made like a gun, goes like a bullet”. It also enabled the use of the brand name Royal Enfield from 1890.
In 1955 Enfield of India started assembling Bullet motorcycles under licence from UK components, and by 1962 were manufacturing complete bikes. The original Redditch, Worcestershire-based company dissolved in 1970, but Enfield of India, based in Chennai, continued, and bought the rights to the Royal Enfield name in 1995. Royal Enfield production continues, and now Royal Enfield is considered the oldest motorcycle model in the world still in production and Bullet is the longest production run model.

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Shop Autonaut Royal Enfield T-shirts at Spreadshirt America

Nimbus

Autonaut — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 22:42:59 +0000

The Nimbus was a Danish motorcycle produced from 1919 to 1960 by Fisker and Nielsen of Copenhagen, Denmark, also manufacturers of “Nilfisk” brand vacuum cleaners. Two basic models were produced, both with a 750 cc four cylinder engine.

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Ariel

Autonaut — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:05:47 +0000

Ariel was a bicycle, motorcycle and automobile marque manufacturer based in Bournbrook, Birmingham, England. The company dates back to 1847 when Ariel made an early pneumatic-tyred wheel for horse drawn carriages. The name was revived by James Starley and William Hillman in 1870 when they invented the wire-spoke wheel which allowed them to build a lighter weight bicycle and named it Ariel (the spirit of the air).
The first Ariel vehicle was a Tricycle that used a 2.25 hp De Dion engine mounted at the rear. More tricycles were produced and quadricycles were added in 1901 as Ariel then moved into car production.
In 1926 Ariel abandoned the car market to concentrate on motorcycles. Ariel motorcycles ceased production in 1967.

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Shop Autonaut Ariel T-shirts at Spreadshirt America
Shop Autonaut Ariel T-shirts and other products at CafePress

// INFO
Read more on Ariel vehicles at Wikipedia
Read more on Ariel motorcycles at Wikipedia

Sunbeam

Autonaut — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:50:03 +0000

Sunbeam was a marque registered by John Marston Co. Ltd of Wolverhampton, England, in 1888. The company first made bicycles, then motorcycles and cars from the late 19th century to circa 1936, and applied the marque to all three forms of transportation. The company also manufactured 647 aircraft during World War I. A Sunbeam was the first British car to win a Grand Prix race, and set a number of land speed records. The company went into receivership in 1935 and was purchased by the Rootes Group, which continued to use the Sunbeam marque.

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Shop Autonaut Sunbeam T-shirts at Spreadshirt America
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Velocette

Autonaut — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 08:21:09 +0000

Velocette is the name given to motorcycles that were made by Veloce Ltd, in Hall Green, Birmingham, England. One of several motorcycle manufacturers in Birmingham, Velocette was a small, family-owned firm, selling far fewer hand-built motorcycles than the giant BSA, Norton or Triumph concerns. Renowned for the quality of its products, the company was ‘always in the picture’ in international motorcycle racing, from the mid-1920s through the 1950s, culminating in two world championship titles (1949–1950 350 cc) and its legendary and still-unbeaten 24 hours at 100 mph (161 km/h) record. Veloce, while small, was a great technical innovator and many of its patented designs are commonplace on motorcycles today, including the positive-stop foot shift and swinging arm rear suspension with hydraulic dampers.

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Shop Autonaut Velocette T-shirts at Spreadshirt Amerika
Shop Autonaut Velocette T-shirts at Spreadshirt Europa
Kjøp Autonauts Velocette-T-skjorter hos Autonaut Autoklassiker
Shop Autonaut Velocette T-shirts and other products at CafePress

AJS

Autonaut — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 08:12:03 +0000

AJS was the name used for cars and motorcycles made by the Wolverhampton, England company A. J. Stevens & Co. Ltd, from 1909 to 1931, by then holding 117 motorcycle world records, and after the firm was sold the name continued to be used by Matchless, Associated Motorcycles and Norton-Villiers on four-stroke motorcycles till 1969, and since the names resale in 1974, on light weight, two stroke scramblers and today on small capacity roadsters and cruisers.

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Shop Autonaut AJS T-shirts at Spreadshirt Amerika
Shop Autonaut AJS T-shirts at Spreadshirt Europa
Kjøp Autonauts AJS-T-skjorter hos Autonaut Autoklassiker
Shop Autonaut AJS T-shirts and other products at Zazzle (embroidery!)
Shop Autonaut AJS T-shirts and other products at CafePress

Sample Autonaut AJS products:

// INFO
Read more on AJS at Wikipedia

// CLUBS

AJS & Matchless Owners Club Ltd.

AJS & Matchless Owners Club North American Section

Norton

Autonaut — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 21:26:39 +0000

Norton was a British motorcycle marque from Birmingham, founded in 1898 as a manufacturer of cycle chains. By 1902 they had begun manufacturing motorcycles with bought-in engines. In 1908 a Norton built engine was added to the range. This began a long series of production of single and eventually twin cylinder motorcycles.

Despite successes at the race tracks, Norton has had a bumpy ride as a company with financial difficulties ever since 1913, resulting in bankruptcies and numerous ownership constellations over the years.

Unfortunately, in 2009 a new business entity “Norton Global Brands” acquired the Norton heritage, pressing hard on licensing Norton branded goods. As such, Autonaut shops can no longer offer this great brand of automotive history.

Matchless

Autonaut — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 11:52:24 +0000

Matchless is one of the oldest marques of British motorcycles with the first models manufactured at the start of the 20th century. Produced in Plumstead, London from 1899 to 1966, a wide range of models were produced under the Matchless name. Matchless had a long history of racing success and a Matchless ridden by Charlie Collier won the first single cylinder race in the first Isle of Man TT in 1907. In 1938 both Matchless and AJS became part of Associated Motorcycles (AMC), both companies producing models under their own marques. During the amalgamations that occurred in the British motorcycle industry in the 1960s, the Matchless four-stroke twin was replaced with the Norton twin ending a long history of independent production. By 1967, the Matchless singles had ceased production.

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Shop Matchless T-shirts at Spreadshirt Amerika + World
Shop Matchless T-shirts at Spreadshirt Europa
Kjøp Matchless T-skjorter hos Autonaut Autoklassiker
Shop Matchless T-shirts and more at CafePress

// INFO
Read more on Matchless at Wikipedia
Matchless logos at Mototype

// CLUBS

AJS & Matchless Owners Club Ltd.

AJS & Matchless Owners Club North American Section