A classic: The 1946 Douglas T35 Motorcycle
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Photo: Jackie freeman photography: Devon England
Douglas motorcycles were manufactured between 1907 and 1957 in Bristol, England.
Brothers William, Edward and Arthur Douglas were blacksmiths when they started their business but soon it developed into a small foundry operation and their interest turned towards more modern transportation vehicles.
The engineering works of Douglas & Co. employed many people from Kingswood in Bristol,and many spent their entire working life at the factory. Whilst the Douglas machines were good performers & their reputation rapidly grew, the quality & workmanship was quite poor & the machines were seldom dependable. However, when King George V acquired a Douglas machine, the bikes became a bit of a status symbol.
British built, Douglas' best years were in the 1920's, though unfortunately, things didn't go too well for them after that.
The Douglas EndeavourA flat twin (that means with the cylinders running across the frame,much like a modern BMW,) was launched in 1934.
It was called the 'Endeavour.'
Though this bike did not revive Douglas' flagging fortunes, it was the basis and indeed, the spiritual forefather of the T35 and was to be the next of Douglas' developments to include this transverse, 'boxer' style engine layout.
Later on, this became standard format for Douglas and was, if you like, effectively their trade mark.
Prior to the Endeavour, the engine was laid out 'in line' with the cycle itself.
In 1935 BAC, the British Aircraft Company, formed Aero Engines Ltd. in a move to take over William Douglas (Bristol) and along with it, the Douglas family interests.
But even this was not to solve all of the companies problems.
BAC's master plan was to secure a contract to produce Hispano-Suiza aircraft engines under licence.
Sadly, the motorcycle arm of the business was at this time not much more than a means of keeping the work force occupied and the order books ticking over, pending the confirmation of the huge aircraft engine deal.
Murphy's law!
It never materialised.
Douglas Stationary Engine
Never the less, Douglas' previously precarious position was actually improved by the demands of the by now - pending war and they moved forward by producing portable generators for the British War Office. This was accomplished by using their 348 cc overhead valve, flat twin engine for exactly this purpose.
At one of Winston Churchills wartime summit meetings, held next to the Sphynx in the Egyptian desert, it was one of these generators that was the power horse.
By the end of the war in 1945, Douglas decided to install their generator engine into a newly designed motor cycle frame and so the T35, like the one above, was born.
By 1948, Douglas was once again in economic distress and forced to rationalise its line into a series based on a 350cc flat twin.
Designed by, George Halliday, it featured a patented sprung frame and tortion suspension bar. These tortion bars ran inside the bottom tubes of the duplex cradle and were attached by links to the rear swinging arm. Bumps were absorbed by the twisting action of these tortion bars.
At the front of the bike there was a set of Douglas 'Radialraulic' forks with the front wheel spindle carried on short leading links pivoted at the rear of the fork stanchions. It also had springs and a damping mechanism concealed within the stanchions. The use of this type of wheel mounting, made it difficult for the front fender to rise and fall with the wheel itself, so Douglas engineers, fitted a fixed and deeply valance mudguard to compensate. Halliday had tried to fit tortion bar suspension to the front wheelsas well as the back but this idea was later abandoned as it was far too complex and moreover, expensive. Never the less, the suspension arrangements were very radical for the age and gave "Dougie" as it was familiarly known, with surprising handling abilities. The factory testers and many of the more adventurous owners were given to demonstrating their machines facility for mounting roadside kerbs at speed.
Now, if you've ever tried that on any other motorcycle around at that time, you'd be picking yourself up off the floor more often than not.
But for the "Dougie," it could perform the party trick, time after time.
