Saving Old Seagulls

hello everyone, its good to be back

Certainly is! All our thanks to Tim for sorting out the issues.

The development of the Seagull has also moved on whilst we have been away..........

I believe an "electric" powered option, or conversion, is now available on the ubiquitous auction site


Peter

Hmm yes I saw the electric version.

Honestly described, and well, would you believe it, people are bidding!

Apart from that there's an intersteing 102 - interesting only because of the astronomical 'buy it now' price. Oh and a 'scarce and sought after' forty plus.

eBay is a constant source of mirth. Long may it continue.

For those of us who just like the internal combustion engine there is this currently on offer:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rolls-Royce-Merl ... dZViewItem

Although beyond this week's budget I rather think it would make a grand addition to my flock. I'm sure a suitable prop could be found, and if ever the neighbours were to complain about me starting up a little Seagull I could demonstrate to them how lucky they are...

Well Charles there is a two blade prop up for auction at the moment. Described as "Seagull" and for "speed".....................

But returning to the 102 I'd venture that the Product Manager would not have signed off on the spacing of the tank decal and the securing straps. Something is not quite right. Either the straps are too wide as replacements or the replacement decal is not to scale. Or both are adrift and not the correct fit for the vintage....?

Peter

There's very little that's right about some 'vintage' aspects of many of the restored motors you see offered - wrong flywheel/magneto, wrong bracket for the alleged year, strange decals, in fact quite a few are obvious 'bitsas'

Nothing wrong with that for a working motor, but the minute thay're described as 'rare' or 'sought after' one does begin to wonder.

I rather like your description of your location '110 miles South of Yorkshire'. May I enquire where in Yorkshire? I'm originally from Tadcaster - there are loads of us down South doing missionary work.

Nothing wrong with that for a working motor, but the minute thay're described as 'rare' or 'sought after' one does begin to wonder

Very true however I feel that many who aspire to a faultless concours restoration are handicapped through a lack of certified examples, reference models or authorative materials. (Though there are clearly rogues around) . Oh, what for a good museum collection with a reference library..........? Really needs somebody to take this on..........

Doing missionary work...wry smile..... more subtle than my locator! Bradford is not too far away from Tadcaster but better beer came from Leeds.........


Peter

Better beer from Leeds? Good Lord, Tetleys is a mere imitation of John Smiths finest. And Sam Smith's is even better.

You're right about the references and concours condition. There are enough adverts and editorial bits out there in the public domain do 'do up' a concours early Century, or a Forty Minus, but when you get into 102 territory and earlier it's a different matter,

Which ones had which bracket? Which block? Which air intake? Which lettering on the tank? and so it goes on..

As more examples are unearthed the general knowledge increases. We can be fairly confident about many things - we can say that the expensive 102 on eBay at the moment has the wrong magneto/spark plug cap/bracket/ filler cap with some confidence. We can make a fairly authoritative assessment about most of the Marston models in their major aspects. But we can rarely be 100 per cent sure. It's the same, I am certain, with vintage cars, old bikes, and almost everything else that's collectable.

You say someone should take this on. You're right, and some on this site are aware I am attempting just that. But it's a rocky road to follow.

Until 1977/8 (according to one source) or 1996 (according to another) British Seagull maintained a hand written register of every motor made. Sometimes individual, sometimes in batches. Who it was made for, what modifications it had, even its service history. When the factory closed these books (lots of them) went into a skip..

.. I'd pay good money for those documents!

This forum has done more for the compilation of a proper history than you would believe - almost every week another interesting fact comes to light. We must continue to share experiences and discoveries; thats the only way we can build a knowledge base that is useful.

Each week I learn something that serves to demonstrate how little I actually know.

We'll get there in the end.