In 1917, British pilot Howard Raymond Davies was shot down in France and thrown into a German prison camp. With plenty of time on his hands, Davies dreamed up an idea for a new line of big bad motorcycles. Those plans, hatched between escape attempts, would eventually turn into the Vincent Rapide.
A beautiful matching-numbers 1948 Vincent Rapide is now available on eBay for $55,000.
When Davies returned home after the war, he started setting time records using the best available British bikes. In 1921, Davies broke four world records at UK’s Brooklands racing circuit:
- 50 miles at 66.5 mph
- 1 hour at 66.09 mph
- 100 miles at 64.68 mph
- 2 hours at 65.3 mph
The records emboldened Davies to produce the bikes he thought up as a war prisoner. So he set up HRD Motors in 1924. The plan was to build a limited number of high-quality motorcycles for connoisseurs—and offer them at competitive prices. The company’s slogan was “Built by a Rider.”
Vincent Rapide: A Legend in the Making
The first HRD motorcycles had the core features that would become the Vincent Rapide. Early Vincent bikes had a version of what became known as the monoshock shock absorber. Over the decades, Davies slowly iterated the design, eventually doubling the engine size.
However, Davies’s plan ran into a few snags. In 1928, he went broke trying to achieve his vision of affordable perfection. He was forced to sell the company to Phil Vincent, the scion of a prominent Argentine cattle company. Vincent re-established the company as Vincent-HRD.
Vincent started cranking out extraordinary yet expensive motorcycles. The 500cc 1936 Vincent Comet was the basis for the first “true” Vincent, the 994cc 1936 Series A Vincent Rapide. The Series B Rapide was introduced in 1946 with slight improvements to the engine, increasing the engine angle from 47.5 to 50 degrees and hiding the engine’s oil lines inside the engine case.
Ongoing Improvements
The 1948 Series B Vincent Rapide on eBay features a 998cc engine with internal oil channeling. The Vincent innovation fixed the so-called plumber’s nightmare: the maze of oil lines. The bike has a 56.5-inch wheelbase and stressed-member frame. That eliminates the frame tubes, using a steel backbone that also serves as the oil tank.
Other innovations included quick-detach reversible rear wheels for easier tire changes and a felt oil filter instead of the old metal gauze.
The 1948 Vincent for sale on eBay comes with original paint except for the gas tank. The original Smiths Chronometric speedometer was used on most English motorcycles until the 1960s.The Miller generator and ammeter measure electric current to the Bakelite spark plug caps, while the vintage eight-inch Miller headlight lights the way.
The bike also has the original muffler, rims, magneto, magneto cover, toolbox, tire pump, and registration.
Vincent produced about 11,000 motorcycles throughout its production run from 1928 to 1955. The quality of the builds helped Vincent earn its reputation for producing the fastest motorcycles in the world.
The 1948 Vincent Rapide Series B, for sale on eBay, is a shining example. It represents the enduring vision a war prisoner for a record-breaking speed machine.
