While they were not in quite the same condition as the Rolls-Royce on offer at Sheffield Auction Gallery on February 24, which looked like it had been dredged up from a lake, these ‘oldies’ offer a tempting restoration project to get them running again.
The three to be offered at Peter Wilson on March 2 were discovered – along with a 1970s Triumph motorbike - when specialists from the Nantwich saleroom visited the Sandbach home of two brothers to value the contents.
“The brothers were mechanical enthusiasts with their own well-equipped garage complete with lathe and were obsessed with cars and motorbikes. We found bits everywhere,” said Peter Wilson managing director Robert Stones.
The three cars – a 1939 Wolseley 10 saloon (estimate £2000-4000), a 1934 Austin 7 box saloon (£2000-4000) and a 1933 Morris Minor two-seat tourer (£1000-2000) – are all non-runners, added Stones, “but ripe for the restoration started by the brothers to be completed by an enthusiast. Each would make a splendid project ready for the spring”.
Triumph motorbike
“We found the dismantled Triumph 500cc twin in bits throughout the house,” he said. “The wheels were in the garage, the frame in an outhouse, the fuel tank in the coal shed and the dismantled engine in a corner in a room inside the house. However, like the cars it comes with its V5 DVLC registration document and with the availability of spares, is another excellent project.”
Also consigned to the sale from a separate source is a now scarce 1949 Scott Flying Squirrel with original maroon and black paint that had been owned by the same family until 2016.
The water-cooled motorcycles with three-speed gearbox earned the ‘Yowler’ nickname from the distinctive exhaust note from their 600cc twin-cylinder two stroke engines.
To be sold with the motorcycle, which is estimated at £4,000-6,000, are copies of the Scott Owners’ Club Yowl journals from the 1980s, and copies of Instruction in the care and management of a Scott and The Yowling Two-Stroke by Jeff Clew.
Once delivered to the Peter Wilson Market Street saleroom, the Scott was put on display in the window, “prompting a local owner to consign the rarest and most valuable motorcycle in the sale: a superb 1914 Rover 500cc, registration AM 3830, which is largely restored”, added Stones. It is estimated at £9000-12,000.
This 1914 Rover 500cc, registration AM 3830, is estimated at £9000-12,000 in the March 2 auction at Peter Wilson.
Rover products
John Starley formed the Rover Cycle Co in 1896, but today the company is of course better known as car makers. However, Rover developed motorcycles in the 1900s and a TT model won the works team award in 1913. During the First World War Rover made more than 10,000 motorbikes, supplying both the British and Russian armies, but production ceased in 1925.
The machine’s buff V5 log book dates back to 1928, accompanied by a note showing the original documents were destroyed before this date, but according to DVLA the machine is still registered under its original number. After being stored for a number of years, it needs re-commissioning.
