Saturday 22 October 2011

The remains of an Emblem.

I had heard about it for while……..A friend of mine had found the remains of his uncle Emblem motorcycle. I was all ears…..He could remember the bike in traffic when he was a kid and had some stories about it. Well my friend is in his eighty’s and can tell a bike ore car tail. He wanted to keep the bits and see what turned up…….Fair enough; after all it was a family relic.

Some time passes and I am out to his place to have a look......... And I ask about the Emblem, after all he is more of a car guy
To make it short, I had to go and get my car……




Well well, what have we here……..in a corner in the garage.





Emblem was made in Angola, New York from 1909 to 1925. They had a reputation to be of excellent quality. I do not know how many that made it to Norway.





This is all the parts, but all projects have a start.….. I will try to find some more of the bike, but it can be a difficult task. The Emblem “lived” close to a deep lake and I have heard many stories of the effective cleaning of unneeded stuff. You drag the things you don`t want out on the ice late in winter. Then you just have to wait until spring, and viola…….everything has disappeared. Did I mention that the lake was deep?

 










Still original paint with gold lining, amazing that it has survived all the years with use and abuse.
I do not know if the parts are from a twin or a single cylinder machine.



4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The parts you have are in great condition. It is a shame that the rest of the bike is at the bottom of the deep lake! But maybe it is time for you to learn scuba? ;)

OcchioLungo said...

PS, is that a rusty Brough Superior tank hanging in the shed?

American motorcycles said...

Cool, amazing that they kept those bits and threw away the rest?!
There is a story on the WWW (somewhere) telling how a bunch of several hundred bikes where shipped to Europe after WWII. Many of those ended up in Sweden where they had a sales agency. Those Emblems where single cylindered bikes. I seem to remeber there where years ago an article in Classic Motor on a Swedish twin Emblem? You will have to check your files.
Ole Ridelius did in the late seventies lot of investigations on early american motorbikes in Seden, he might have knowledge on Emblems too?
Good luck in getting hold of the rest:-)
Sverre

Beveldrive said...

To find the remaining parts for the Emblem i have to get a Sherlock Holms hat, a mini submarine and a pair of scuba fins…..
Always fun to learn about a new make of motorcycle…..
Brought Superior tank………I wish….No I think it is a tank from Germany ? Got it at home, but I have not identified it yet.