Beschreibung:

Despite the demonstrable advantages of hub centre steering and the fact that the system has appeared at regular intervals since motorcycling’s earliest days, there had only ever been one machine - before the advent of Yamaha’s GTS - that made it into volume production - the Ner-a-Car. Invented by American Carl A Neracher in 1919, the machine was built under licence in the UK by Sheffield Simplex, using part of what had been the Sopwith Aviation works in Kingston-on-Thames. The basic design remained unaltered - pressed-steel chassis, voluminous front mudguard, hub-centre-steering, friction drive transmission - but whereas US-built models were powered by a two-stroke engine of 221cc, Sheffield Simplex chose to fit their own 285cc unit. Four-stroke sidevalve and (later) overhead-valve 350cc Blackburne-engined versions equipped with conventional three-speed gearboxes followed. Endowed with excellent handling and weather protection, the Ner-a-Car was a great success, production only ceasing in 1926 because of problems within other parts of the Sheffield Simplex group. Although this example’s old-style continuation logbook, issued 1952, records the engine capacity as 200cc, it is almost certainly a Sheffield Simplex-built 285cc Model B. The machine was purchased by the current owner’s father in 1952 and ridden on a daily basis for the next four years. Then from 1956 to 1972 it remained stored in a greenhouse before undergoing restoration. The restored Ner-a-Car was then used for local rallies in Essex, including the well-known Battlesbridge and Barleylands events, until 2006, since when it has not been ridden. Offered with the aforementioned logbook, instruction manual and old-style Swansea V5, the machine will require re-commissioning and the customary safety checks before returning to the road.