Douglas Dragonfly

[dencoh2]

Hi, I'd bought a copy of Classic Motorcycle for my uncle Fred as it had an article and road test of a Douglas Dragonfly. This was Fred' favourite motorbike and I think he said he bought it new from Pride and Carke. I'll post some of his photographs of the bike.

I wondered if anyone has a register of Douglas motorbikes to allow him to find out if his Dragonfly survived the last 60 or so years ?     

[David Lawrence]

Hi Dencoh2,
In answer to your post regarding "Uncle Fred's" interest in the Dragonfly, we in the London Douglas MCC do keep a register of all Douglas machine where we can find evidence of their survival. The Dragonflies sold by Pride & Clarke make up a fair proportion of those on our records. I assume from your photo's to which you refer you know the registration number, I am sure Fred will remember it in any case! sadly all the registration details from London were destroyed when the DVLA scrapped the "old style" log books and introduced the V5. If the bike does still exist and retains its original registration we can confirm its existance providing it has been reported to us, unfortunatly quite a few have either had the numbers sold off or have been given age related numbers, in this case we can only help if you have a record anywhere of the frame number.
I look forward to seeing the photo's
Dave.

[dencoh2]

As promised, I'm attaching a photograph of Freddie Rhodes's Douglas Dragonfly:TYP 722. Freddie bought this bike, sight unseen, from Pride and Clarke as they were on offer at a bargain price. The Dragonfly was delivered to Queen Street train station in Glasgow wrapped up in brown paper and string. Freddie pushed the Dragonfly for a mile through central Glasgow to a garage where he unwrapped the bike, prepared it then started it . Freddie remembers the bike was green, he used it for his daily transport and for trips down to England and Wales. On one trip he had to change the piston rings, he and his cousin moved the bike into his aunts kitchen to do this as it was so cold outside. This was Freddie's favourite bike: it handled well and could carry him and a passenger at 60-70 mph with ease. Freddie owned the bike from new in 1958 and sold it in 1960, to a man who lived in High Street, Glasgow, to get the money for a car.

Freddie would love to hear from anyone else who owned TYP 722. 



Larger view

[David Lawrence]

Hi,
The good news is that "Freddies" Dragonfly is listed on the Douglas Club register so it suggests that it still exists.
The owner listed has not been a Club member for many years and we have now no contact address.
It may have changed hands several times without the Club registrar being informed, hopefully a previous or even better, the present owner will
read your post and contact you.
If so please ask them to get in touch with the Registrar as we would like any recent information on our registered machines.
Good hunting!
Dave

[eddie]

Hi,
     The only details I could find showed the owner (and presumably the bike) to be in Stevenage in 1971.
Regards,
               Eddie.

[dencoh2]

I've just checked Google for photographs of 1957 Douglas Dragonfly and came across this photograph of TYP 779 in a museum in America 

[dencoh2]

Hi, I've just checked back at the source of the photograph and this Douglas Dragonfly, TYP 729, was in a motorbike dealers called Motoworks in Chicago in 2007

 

I'm still looking out for TYP 722; does anyone have any other ideas of where to look ?

[dencoh2]

Sorry that wa TYP 779 in Chicago in 2007

[eddie]

You could look on the DVLA website to see if that registration number is still in use.

   Regards,
                Eddie.

[dencoh2]

Thanks Eddie, I looked on www.taxdisc.gov.uk, filled in the registration and make and the website then reported the vehicle enquiry is complete.

The vehicle details for TYP 722 are: Date of liability 11/07/2013

Does that mean the bike still exists and has been taxed ?

 

[David Lawrence]

Hi,
I have just checked up the info you have and the record states that  TYP722 is actually licensed at present, interestingly it also reckons the bike is now black! so it has had a change of colour in the past 50 years!
The info on vehicles that are recorded with the DVLA seem to fall into three categories:
A future date of Liability is quoted and the comment given "License not Due", which according to my taxed Dragonfly record shows it as actively licensed, the date given is the renewal date as quoted on my V5C.
A future date of Liability is quoted and the comment given "Sorn not Due" which is the designation given to my sorned Honda. Which of course like the tax needs renewing annually.
A future Date of Liability is quoted and the comment given "Not Licensed" this implies that the vehicle was registered as "off the road" with the DVLA before the introduction of SORN but it is still on record. It seems that the DVLA update this information themselves. This is confirmed by my Mark 5 which has been "not Licensed" since the introduction of the V5 back in the eighties. Must rebuild it soon before I am too old to ride it
So it would seem that TYP722 is alive and well albeit now in black livery, just like my own Dragonfly!!
I hope this information is of use. I suggest the next step is an advertisement in the London Douglas MCC magazine as we have many members that do not use the web.
Dave

[dencoh2]

Thanks Dave , how do you go about advertsing in the magazine ?