(bike engine roaring)
- So today, we've come to visit Angus,
who has a very unique and rare collection of what we call
Grey Frame BSA's.
Two very special production bikes,
but also two very unique and rare prototype bikes.
So, Angus,
talk us through it.
- Thanks John.
Yes, so I have a collection of Grey Frame BSAs,
and these were primarily produced and manufactured
between January and May, 1971.
An interesting,
the most interesting fact really is that
they weren't intended to be grey.
So BSA where restyling the whole range for 1971.
And the intention was that the frames would be silver,
to try and mimic the titanium frames
of the BSA Works Motocrosses at the time.
However, to get manufacturing off quickly,
the plant manager went out
and bought some dove grey frame, secondhand,
from the MOD,
cheap.
And all of a sudden in January,
they started dipping the frames in this dove grey.
And initially, the dove grey frames were quite,
well received in America, which was the major market.
However,
once the grey frame started to age
and become dirty
with regular use
and get scratched, et cetera,
it was found that they were very difficult to keep clean
and started to lose their luster.
And so,
under pressure from mainly the American market,
the factory then reverted to black frames
from the end of May, 1971.
- So literally these bikes were produced on a sort of,
five six-month window, is that it?
- That's correct, yeah.
There are a few early examples in June
that were grey framed
and later bikes,
the first black frame one,
sometimes had grey shocks,
as a bit of it's (indistinct)
But the change over happened between,
sort of end of May, early June,
in 71.
So it was a very short window of grey frame production.
- So, rare bikes indeed.
And what have we got here then?
Two perfect examples.
- So firstly,
here we've got
a fairly rare 750 Lightning.
So this is the A70 Lightning.
And this was produced between June and August, 1971.
The very early ones were grey framed.
And when I purchased this,
although it was in a state,
the shocks were grey.
So I thought I was justified in actually restoring it
with a grey frame.
- And the Lightning's normally only 650cc.
- Only 650 and they produced the seven 750 version
to homologate the 750 Twins for AMA flat track racing,
in North America,
where the factory riders were screaming out
for a 750 to compete with the Harley 750 v-twins,
et cetera, at the time.
So they produced 202 of these
between June and August.
The intention was to continue with the 750 Lightning
in 1972,
but obviously due to all the factory's
financial situation,
as 71 war on that never happened.
- Okay, so is this an American spec model or is this a UK?
- This is an American spec model.
So it's the smaller tank.
There wasn't really a UK version of the A70.
They were all exported.
And some of them have been re-imported.
- And this color scheme then,
is this unique?
So this,
is it a three year or,
in terms of the orange?
- It's not unique to the year.
This is Etruscan Bronze over white
and the Etruscan Bronze was used in 72 as well,
but as a single block color.
(metal clanging)
(bike engine revving)
- Okay, so we've got a beautiful 750 twin cylinder.
And this one, three cylinder.
- Rocket 3,
more well-known as it came out in late 68,
but for 71,
as well as the grey frame,
it was totally restyled.
So this is the Mark 2.
It's, again, 1 of 200 five speed factory bikes
that were built to homologate the five-speed box,
gearbox for the Daytona races.
Yeah.
- Okay.
- But other than that,
it's a standard Mark 2 export Rocket 3,
where obviously,
the distinguishing feature is that
they replaced the bread bin tank with this teardrop tank
and chromed it as well.
And actually the tank is an export tank
from the twins from 69 also,
where they slightly modified it
and adapted it for the Rocket 3,
for the restyling.
- And that's the reason why that one carries this sort of
older style badges compared to the...
- That's correct.
So yes,
the Lightning carries the badges that were designed
for the 71 range that you saw in other models.
But yes,
because they used the older tank and adapted it for this,
they had to retain,
the big old style star badges,
which obviously a lot of people do prefer,
which actually gave it a distinctive look as well.
- But it's great to see these two examples side by side,
showing that particular moment in time
when the grey frame existed with that colour scheme
for the export market,
they do look stunning together.
- That's right.
Two 750 BSA's,
manufactured, you know,
within a short space of time,
in that for the same model year,
but totally different bikes altogether.
(bike engine rumbling)
- Okay, so now let's move on to these two bikes,
which are very, very special machines.
These are prototype machines.
So Angus, talk us through these.
- Yes, thanks John.
So,
the intention in 1971 was to introduce
a totally new modern model,
and in the case of BSA, this was the Fury.
Triumph were also intending to introduce the same model
as the Bandit,
which a lot of people also know of.
There were a handful of bikes in development initially
in 68, 69.
And then there were a number built for pre-production
testing purposes,
in early 71.
But a lot of those examples don't survive.
And due to the financial difficulties,
the factory found itself in,
in mid to late 71 and onwards,
it's actually never officially stated
that it was dropping this model,
but just said that it wouldn't be produced for 1971.
So the intention was then,
that they would release it in 1972.
Ultimately of course,
the factory just went downhill financially
and so,
it never happened.
So there are relatively few examples of these
that still survive.
By my count, from my records,
there's 17 or 18.
This one to me
is particularly special because firstly,
this bike actually kicked off my interest
in the Grey Framers,
because after the factory had closed and BSA
had become amalgamated as to Norton Villiers Triumph.
In 1978,
there was an article in Motorcycle News
where it showed Peter Vale Onslow,
of Vale-Onslow Motorcycles in Birmingham,
which was the biggest BSA dealer in Birmingham
and close to the factory.
Describing this bike,
which he had in the showroom.
And this is actually the bike used at the launch
of the 1971 range,
Lavish due at the Royal Lancaster hotel in London
on the 10th of November, 1970.
And this was the bike that was there.
However,
this bike isn't all what it seems
because although it looks complete,
there are actually no internals in the motor.
So it's purely a show to publicise the model.
And there were two or three others also produced
in a similar fashion,
to promote the model,
but not actually runners.
- Did you know that before you bought it?
- Like when you kicked it over?
- No, no,
you won't kick this over
because the kickstart shaft on this is wooden.
But what I wanted to do was,
I've always been interested in the Grey Framers
in particularly,
Fury's, especially from the original 1978,
um, article.
And ultimately,
I managed to purchase this from Vale-Onslow in 1992.
And the intention was at the time was to,
first of all,
see if we could find the necessary parts
to complete this motor and make this into a running example.
And this is what started my Grey Frame collection.
So, over a number of years,
I did take this to events
and generated quite a lot of interest.
I also, um,
managed to make acquaintance
with other aficionados of Fury and Bandits.
This one in particular was Tony Page,
who was well known in these circles,
particularly for Triumph Bandits and BSA Fury
that he owned.
And we started to collaborate
and he was willing to provide some parts from his stash
that he'd collected over a number of years.
However, we were lucky enough
to come across another gentleman
that was also collecting parts in the late 70s
when some of these were available from dealers
that had taken stashes of spares from the factory
when the factory closed down
and I purchased his stash of parts,
having seen them and examined them in his loft .
And when we brought them home and eventually sorted them,
we realized we probably had enough parts
to actually build another one separately.
And so we started on a journey,
primarily myself and Tony Page,
whereby we collaborated
so that we could pull all the spares that we had,
to the extent where initially I helped him
complete his Triumph Bandit,
which is one that he built up
around an experimental motor from the factory.
And then following that,
I built up this Fury,
in Street Scrambler form, the SS,
and we were then able to leave the original show bike,
as a piece of history,
as it was at the launch,
still in,
you know, factory and unrestored condition.
- So that's a real time capsule.
- This a time capsule, yeah.
And this was the bike that was also in the publicity photos
with model, Karen Young,
which were used at the time in magazines, et cetera.
So that's how the collection has come about.
It started with this bike.
- So, other than the fact that these were prototypes
and didn't go into production,
you talked through a little bit more of the engine on this,
so that's the really interesting point on these, isn't it?
What could have been?
- What could have been,
so, um, these bikes were designed as a 350
to capture the American market,
the 350 market in America.
And that was because that was the insurance ceiling
for learners at the time.
And Honda were carving out that market
and taking a huge share with the,
CB350 and CL350 models.
And this was targeted,
to take some of that market share from Honda.
And obviously it had to emulate, you know,
a much more modern design rather than the old fashioned,
you know, push rod designs.
This was a new modern design incorporated,
double overhead cam shafts,
optional electric start.
One thing that they didn't do was incorporate a disc brake,
which some people felt was a bit of a failing
for the 71 range in general,
but they designed this twin leading conical hub,
which they use across the range,
which if set up properly is a good brake.
So it was very fairly and squarely aimed
at competition against the Japanese,
especially the Hondas,
but it still retained obviously
some of the older approaches,
with maybe the brakes
and also vertically split cases.
So, the engine cases are, you know, quite complex,
and also in that respect,
are probably more prone to leak oil
than the Hondas do,
with the vertical cases.
But obviously, it was a big step in the right direction.
The frame was designed
to replicate
the strength of the triple racers.
Rob North didn't design the frame as a lot of people think,
but it was certainly designed along the same lines.
They were using these modern paint colors,
as you can see.
So Plum Crazy on the Fury,
Firecracker Red and Etruscan Bronze.
Paint unfortunately faded very, very badly,
in sunlight,
after a few months.
But luckily, because this is a show machine
and it's been inside most of its life,
the factory colors have been retained.
So we've been able to get a good match on that Plum Crazy,
but it is a unique paint to the bike.
So a lot of unique features of this bike,
and obviously there's been a lot of articles written about
the fact whether or not,
this might have saved the factory.
- We'll never know.
- Personally, I don't think so
because they're in too much of a mess at the time.
And although it might've sold well,
I think they were worried about the fact
that it hadn't had enough testing pre-production,
it failed quality assurance on the pre-production batch.
And they might've been left
with a whole mound of warranty claims,
which they couldn't afford at the time.
So I think that's why,
it was slowly left,
to die on a shelf, unfortunately.
- So, in terms of this particular one, then Angus,
this is the Street Scrambler styling.
- I've just recently finished this.
So, it's all ready to go.
And the next activity will be a first start on it.
Because I already had this show model,
which is in the style of what they call the Roadster
or the E35R Roadster,
I decided to build this one up as the Street Scrambler,
which was the other model,
you know the Fury model they they're intending to offer.
And the differences being on the Street Scrambler
is obviously the distinctive part
is the high level black exhaust,
but also,
it's got Chrome guards rather than the painted guards,
optional different handlebars on it.
But other than that,
it's exactly the same bike.
- But it just screams USA market.
- It just changes the style totally
with the high-level pipes
and what I've done with this one as well,
is electric start was optional on both of these.
And I've fitted the electric start onto this one,
which is going to help with the first start, I'm sure.
- Which should be soon.
See that on your YouTube channel?
- Oh, you will, so I have my own YouTube channel,
under my name,
Angus D. Campbell and BSA Power Set.
The reason why I call it BSA Power Set,
is because the American brochure
from which this is taken,
from the front cover,
was known as the power and the glory
and the whole range
then became the Power Set range for 1971.
(bike engine revving)