BESPOKE PROJECTS

The Black Living Country Museum offers an extensive range of 80,000 items in their collections including buildings, cars, sad irons, trolley buses, photographs, shops, locks, canal boats, catalogues and glass! Historically, the Black Country played a vital role in the nation’s industrial history. This was the world’s first industrial landscape and one of the most intensely industrialised regions of the UK.

Recently, they have been working on restoring an electrically powered milk float from The Midland Counties Dairy company and asked us to supply some waterslide transfers of The Midland Counties Logo to add the finishing touch to the Graiseley Cart.

Attention to detail, restoration and preservation of historic vehicles is just some of the core values we hold at Classic Transfers. Although we are naturally well knowledged in the Vintage motorcyle industry, we do not discriminate and welcome bespoke projects of all natures.

We highly recommend paying a visit to The Black Country Living Museum and experience their talent at bringing history back to life.

Visit their site here

Two adventurous brothers decided to capitalise on their, relatively common, surname in the 1950s, and produce a 125cc and 150cc, single-cylinder two stroke machine with a two speed gearbox in, surprise surprise, Ferrari red. It proved extremely popular as customers assumed that the mercurial Enzo Ferrari had branched out into motorcycle manufacture.

The inevitable eventually happened and Enzo took the Ferrari brothers to court and sued them for miss-using his company name, and won. Forthwith, they must clearly state Fratelli Ferrari (Ferrari Brothers) and never use Enzo’s prancing horse logo again. They continued until the late 1950s then folded. Survivors are extremely scarce with the Ferrari badged bikes being the most collectable.

Royal Enfield showcased a major centre-piece of their 120 anniversary celebration projects today with the unveiling of ‘Project Origin’, a faithful working replica of the brand’s very first ‘motor-bicycle’. This was the very machine that built the foundations upon which Royal Enfield has based their enduring legacy of ‘Pure Motorcycling’.

The conception of ‘Project Origin’ came about after a challenge was laid down to the Royal Enfield design and engineering teams by Gordon May, Royal Enfield’s in-house historian, during a historical presentation to celebrate the brand’s 120th anniversary. Part of the presentation focused on the very first prototype Royal Enfield motor-bicycle that was developed all theway back in 1901 by Frenchman Jules Gobiet, working hand-in-hand with Royal Enfield’s co-founder and chief designer, Bob Walker Smith. As the infant motorcycle industry was not sufficiently well established to have its own dedicated exhibition, the prototype was consequently displayed at the Stanley Cycle Show in London, in November 1901. This was the very first time any two-wheeled engine-powered Royal Enfield had ever been displayed to the public.

Classic Transfers was tasked with re-designing the artwork for the original transfer that we believe went on the tank and then screen printing the waterslide transfers. All that remained were a few period photographs, some promotional advertisements and a couple of illustrated news articles from 1901 that gave some basic graphic clues and information as to how the motor-bicycle would have looked and might have functioned.