Douglas Owners Club – Page 4 – The London Douglas Motor Cycle Club

Period pictures always fascinate me, and this one was sent by a visitor to the site who found it in a book about JAP engines, purchased in a charity shop. It is captioned ‘Biddy 1930’ and he wondered if anyone could tell him more about it. MP 7279 – a Middlesex registration mark – does not show up on the DVLA site and does not appear in the Douglas Club’s records, so it seems unlikely that Biddy’s machine has survived. Perhaps the state of that front tyre had something to do with it …

Sharper eyes than mine can probably identify the model but I think it’s an EW from the late 1920s. If you can identify the machine, the location, or even the rider – do leave a comment below.

I was recently sent this lovely period photograph of a Douglas motorcycle combination with a Lodge Plugs ‘promotional’ sidecar. The machine looks like a 4HP model from the 1920s and appears to be on ‘trade plates’. The sidecar is rather harder to define, although it has clearly thrilled its ten riders and passengers! Novel vehicles like this were – and still are – used to promote brands, and Lodge Plugs created a memorable sight with this distinctive outfit. I wonder what became of it?

*Douglas 4hp with Lodge Plugs Sidecar, 1920s*

As a footnote to this story, Lodge Plugs were made in Olney, Buckinghamshire, and the building still exists today, although I believe it is now apartments. The Lodge name remains clearly visible on the wall. It’s curious to think that, when the photograph of the sidecar outfit was taken, this building was perhaps still less than twenty years old!

Tag: Douglas Owners Club

Searching for Biddy

‘Plugging’ the Brand!