Getting my '59 Cub in 1958
by Stuart Copping
by Stuart Copping
In 1957, like all the lads I knew, I couldn’t wait for ‘next year’ to get aboard a ‘bike. My Dad was a good egg, he had ridden ‘bikes in the twenties and thirties. I think Triumphs and BSA’s. No details unfortunately.
Anyway, an ‘old lad’ down the road from where we lived in Guildford had a D1 BSA Bantam. It was ’49/50, rigid rear with leg shields and huge screen, more like a sail. Great with a following wind - but b….. awful with a cross wind!
I left school at 15 to continue with the family tradition of working on the farm. So the Bantam did 20-odd miles a day for work, plus lots of miles in the evening and weekends. Saturday mornings were a standard part of the standard 47 hour working week then.
Anyway, an ‘old lad’ down the road from where we lived in Guildford had a D1 BSA Bantam. It was ’49/50, rigid rear with leg shields and huge screen, more like a sail. Great with a following wind - but b….. awful with a cross wind!
I left school at 15 to continue with the family tradition of working on the farm. So the Bantam did 20-odd miles a day for work, plus lots of miles in the evening and weekends. Saturday mornings were a standard part of the standard 47 hour working week then.
|
Anyway, after saving hard, it was time for a change of ‘bike. So what to go for?
There was a whole host of machinery (all British). The year was 1958. Lots of stuff with 197cc Villiers singles plus 250cc twins, Excelsior, D.O.T. Greaves, James, Fanny Barnet and more. All two stroke oilers of course. Four strokes tended to start at 350cc, most of them a bit old in the tooth, Matchless, AJS, Norton etc. Douglas offered a 350cc flat twin at a very reasonable price (The Dragonfly). Just didn’t fancy it. S.R.Jeffries in Tunsgate in the centre of Guildford, just off the High Street, were the target supplier of my elected new machine - a Tiger Cub! Jeffries had a Hunting, Shooting and Fishing shop of the corner of Tunsgate and the High Street. The motorcycle shop and workshop was a hundred yards into Tunsgate. |
We had agreed a part exchange value on the Bantam of £25, the same as I paid for it the previous year. I know a 1950 ‘bike sounds like a very old machine - but, remember it was only seven years old when I bought it. The same as buying a 2014 ‘bike now.
I had used it a lot though as I was working on a farm near Redhill and staying in digs, returning to Guildford once a week to see the family and, most importantly, the Girls!
Anyway having ordered the Cub, the Saturday to collect it eventually arrived - much excitement! So having got home from work on the Saturday and wolfed a quick lunch, off I went to Jeffries on the trusty Bantam.
At the top of North Street, where it joins the High Street, is a set of traffic lights. In those days, you could turn right into High Street and it was 100 yards to Tunsgate.
BANG! The gear box went CHUNK. Couldn’t make it up, 100 yards to go, oh dear, what would Jeffries say?
The Bantam was very light and it took me just two minutes to push it to the shop and explain what had happened. They were very good and gave me £13.50 - so not a complete disaster.
Having sorted that out, it was time to see my beautiful new steed. It was August 1958 and in those days, Triumph launched their next model year machines in August. What a surprise, I had waiting for me a 1959 model Cub.
This was the first year that they fitted the quarter fairing panels around the oil tank, fairing in the front of the rear wheel too. It was terrific. The registration number was either 860 GPG or GPG 860. For the life of me, I can’t find any of the documents or photographs. I think it cost me £157.00.
Remember I wasn’t doing too bad and was earning around £5 a week, not bad in 1958 for a nipper. I did around 20,000 miles on the Cub before selling it to a pal, replaced by a ’57 Dommie ’88 with twin carbs (extremely rare), HC pistons, etc.
But that's another story…
I had used it a lot though as I was working on a farm near Redhill and staying in digs, returning to Guildford once a week to see the family and, most importantly, the Girls!
Anyway having ordered the Cub, the Saturday to collect it eventually arrived - much excitement! So having got home from work on the Saturday and wolfed a quick lunch, off I went to Jeffries on the trusty Bantam.
At the top of North Street, where it joins the High Street, is a set of traffic lights. In those days, you could turn right into High Street and it was 100 yards to Tunsgate.
BANG! The gear box went CHUNK. Couldn’t make it up, 100 yards to go, oh dear, what would Jeffries say?
The Bantam was very light and it took me just two minutes to push it to the shop and explain what had happened. They were very good and gave me £13.50 - so not a complete disaster.
Having sorted that out, it was time to see my beautiful new steed. It was August 1958 and in those days, Triumph launched their next model year machines in August. What a surprise, I had waiting for me a 1959 model Cub.
This was the first year that they fitted the quarter fairing panels around the oil tank, fairing in the front of the rear wheel too. It was terrific. The registration number was either 860 GPG or GPG 860. For the life of me, I can’t find any of the documents or photographs. I think it cost me £157.00.
Remember I wasn’t doing too bad and was earning around £5 a week, not bad in 1958 for a nipper. I did around 20,000 miles on the Cub before selling it to a pal, replaced by a ’57 Dommie ’88 with twin carbs (extremely rare), HC pistons, etc.
But that's another story…