Description
Coventry-Eagle 1924 Model “ C35” 348 cc side valve frame # 34316 engine # 1Y/M 24994/M
The Coventry-Eagle Cycle and Motor Co. produced motorcycles between 1899 and 1940. Production began with the building of bicycles and tricycles assembled from bought-in parts. These cycles were well-built and popular, which accounted for the continued success of the firm. Already before 1900 the company started to produce motorcycles and over the years various brands of engines, both two strokes and four strokes, were employed. The 1924 range consisted of 293 and 348cc singles and 980cc twins of which the sporty “flying 8” was the most coveted -and most expensive- machine. The 348cc side valve models were available with JAP or Blackburne engines. The company mentioned in its 1924 brochure that all frame tubes were straight, which was claimed to improve the strength of the construction. Model S(olo)35 and C(ombination)35 were actually the same, but the C35 was sold with sidecar included. The JAP-engined machine we present here started her life with a sidecar and was purchased new in July 1924 by a Mr. Robert Owen Vaughan of North Wales. The combination was used to deliver radio accumulators to farms and houses in the Conway area. In the nineteen eighties the machine had lost her sidecar and was sold at a Beaulieu Autojumble. She was subsequently restored and later came in the possession of the Coventry-Eagle Marque Specialist of the Sunbeam M.C.C. This gentleman is also the author of the most comprehensive publication on the make: “”Coventry-Eagle – The History of a Motorcycle Company”. Among the accompanying paperwork is the original logbook which shows Mr Vaughan had licensed the machine up to 1939. There’s also a letter of VMCC Coventry-Eagle Marque Specialist Ken Sheppard who writes: “I confirm this machine is very rare, I know of no other surviving example of this model.” Our C35 comes with 3-speed Sturmey-Archer gearbox, internal expanding front brake and Lucas acetylene lighting. She’s in good running condition (video available).