rider.Aside fro mdesignin ghis
successfulaircra ft (including
the Avro 504, of whichover
8300 were builtby Avro and
moreelsewhere)AV Roeenjoyed
himselfdesigning cars,monocars,
bicars,smalltwo-strokeengines
andevenafive-cylinderradial
engineforeither lightcar or
motorcycle applications.Avro
builtafew cars after theFirst
WorldWar and herenewedhis
interestinmonocars andbicars,
of whichasmallnumberwere
built in theearlytomid-1 920s.
WhetherAV Roewanted
Avro to buildtheseinvolume is
unknown,but it isknownthat
he felthampered at Avro,despite
the huge successofhis planes
andthe incomeearned, leading
himtoleave thecompany in
1926 andlater sell hisshares.He
bought SE Saunders and Co of
Cowes, Io W, and changedits
brandtoSAROtodesignand
makeflyingboats.Heremained
adirector of this companyuntil
hisdeath.
Knighted in 1929 ,hechanged
hisnameby deedpoll in 1933
by adding ahyphenbetween
Verdon andRoe to form the
doubled-barrelledsurname
Verdon-Roe. Knownbysome
as ‘AV’,hetooklittle lyin gdown
and despite (orperhapsinspite
of)his wealth,hevigorously
challengedthe British and
international bankin gsystems
and wasasupporter ofOswald
Mosleyinthe 1930s. After the
Second WorldWar,Verdon-Roe
continued to usetwo-wheeled
transport, includingaCorgi
scooter and anLE Velocette,
both ofwhich he modified. And
then,in1956, hestartedhis last
Bicar projectwithVelocetteLE
power, on whichhewas still
workin gatthe ti me ofhisdeath.
It wouldbenice to think,
Simon,thatyourRoe motorcycle
wasone of the ‘unloved’
machines AV Roeand his
brother Humphreybuilt and
used duringthe First World War.
Buthow to pr oveit?
Reconstructedclassic vehiclesEven 50 or moreyearsago,it
couldbe difficult to register
a‘special’ for useonBritish
roads.One approachwas to
saveor fabricate(surely I’m
not writingthis for the pages
ofTCM!) receip ts fo rnew parts
to agiven value.In1967, this
was£200 foramotorcycle.
Then one couldapply for a
then-appropriateregistr ation
mark and accompanyinglog
book.Ast eenagers,wedid
exactly this whenafriendbuilt
aTriton from predominantly
new parts and, asmy mum
worked in agarage, she was
able to misappropriateafew
sheets of headedreceipt paper,
whichwashandy.It worked,
and the 650cc motorcyclewas
accordedthe then-current ‘F’
suffixregistr ation mark.
Anotherapproach was to use
aframe orrollin gchassisfor
whichalog bookor laterV5/
V5C wasavailable or likewise
adonor motorcycle with log
book/V5C from whichthe
framewasemployedproved
useful too.But today,withthe
extr aimportance placedonthe
originality ofavehicle’s major
components,this approachis
moredifficult,unles sone is
planningadeviousroute and
we won’t go there.
Recently,areader
approachedthiscolumn
after experiencingdifficulties
registeringhis sp ecial, which
comprisesaframe and engine
from twodifferentlate1950s
motorcycle brands,fitted with
afront forkand wheels from
afurth er twodifferen tearly
1970smachines .Onrefusing
his application, as themachine
wasbuilt from parts of differing
ages/brands,DVLAadvised
him tohave the machine
tested at aMSVA(Motorcycle
Single VehicleApproach),
which means ithastocomplywith current standards.An
accompanyingleaflet informs
for thisroutethat thevehicle
must be lessthan10yearsold
and mustn’tbeeithe ratrialsor
enduromachine.Our reader’s
project fallsat thefirst hurdle,
as it isbeingbuilt in trials trim.
Havingstudiedthe DVLA
website and drawingon
experience as an occasional
vehicle inspectorfor a
well-known club,the best
approachseems to be toapply
for anage-relatedregistr ation
mark usin gthe DVLA category
ReconstructedClassicVehicles,
for which information informs:
“For useonthe road thevehicle
must complywith theroad
vehiclesregulati ons.”Howtoregister:
“You must followall
instructions forregiste ring a
new vehicle.
“You must include the
following with yourapplication
■writtenreportfromthe
appropriatevehicleowners’
club
■formV627/ 1–‘built up
vehicles inspection report’
■evidence oftypeapproval
if necessary.”ThesameDVLA website
offers links to helpand guide
with theaboveand informs:
“New orreplicaparts :Your
vehiclewill notgetanage-
relate dregistration number if
it includes new orreplicaparts.
DVLA will giv eyourvehicle a
‘Q’prefixrespiration mark.Your
vehiclemust passthe relevant
typeapproval testtoget a‘Q’
prefixregistr ation number.”
From experience inspecting
vehicles for theclub as
mentionedearlier, the DVLA
inte rprets this asmajor
components,not tyres,footrest
rubbers andpartstor epair the
engine,for example.
As this columnhasnodirect
experience ofregistering
vehiclesbuilt fromperiod
(classic)componentswith
DVLA,the advice is that one
shouldseekhelp from an
appropriate club and, in this
instance,one imagines a
multi-makeclub rather than
an individual onemake club
or aclub dating officerfor a
one-makeclub who holds
the relevantinformation to
date motorcycles, other than
thosehis/herclub’s brandwas
originally establishedfor.