PRIDE & JOY

This story starts on 25th March 1935, the initial registration date of this New Imperial Model 37. The 250 was bought new by Frederic Stanley Moore of Braddan Bridge on the Isle of Man. The documents which came with it, 45 years later, suggest that the New Imperial was in use until around 1942. My brother-in-law, John, bought it in 1979. We had placed an advert in our regional paper for an ‘Old bike wanted, any condition, runner or non-runner’. We were inspired by vintage machinery after attending a steam rally. We saw the stationary engines and bought a Lister model D which we refurbished.

Among the responses to our advert came one from a chap in Chester, a cousin of the original owner and he’d inherited the New Imp at some point. He also had a Post Office BSA Bantam, and John bought the two of them. Looking back, we should have pressed the seller for more information regarding his late cousin. Could Frederic Moore have been a casualty of war? (If any RC readers know anything