Desperate to own a Vincent but can’t quite stretch to it? Easy – just persuade your old man to go halves
I BECAME INTERESTED in older bikes while still at school during the mid-1970s, when projects included a 1948 Royal Enfield single and a 1932 Indian Scout. My interest in Vincents started when I saw a photograph of a Series C Rapide in the book ‘Know Thy Beast’ by EMG Stevens.
My dad’s interest in bikes went back many years; he’d owned a Scott and Brough Superior back in the 1940s. So, when a Series C Rapide came up for sale, we went 50/50 to buy it. I had to sell my almost-new Yamaha XT500 to come up with my share and even then I was still a bit short.
The Vincent was being sold by an old Italian cane farmer near Lucinda in the far north of Queensland – a two-day drive in my dad’s two-door Range Rover. When we got there, we found that the guy had a collection of Vincents – including a Comet, which my dad seemed more interested in than the Rapide. But we struck a deal for the Rapide, which we partly disassembled so it would fit into the back of the Range Rover for the journey home...
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