Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Motoring Memory Lane: Superior cars are rarest of the rare

Post Thumbnail

George Brough, pronounced Bruff, made his repute by producing Brough Superiors, “the Rolls Royce of motorbikes”, from 1920 to the late 1930s. Lawrence of Arabia was so smitten with them that he bought eight. When he died in May 1935, serving under the alias Aircraftman Shaw in the RAF, he was riding bike number seven.

Like many motorbike manufacturers, Nottingham-based Brough Superior moved into car making, starting in 1935, but producing barely 100 cars between then and 1939, almost all with Hudson engines and chassis, of which many survive, one in Angus. However, of the 3000-plus Brough Superior motorcycles, it is thought more than 1000 survive, including 50 found rusting in a Cornish barn about three years ago.

George Brough was a stickler for quality and detail (all bikes were assembled to see that they worked, then dismantled and all parts polished, plated or painted before final assembly) and he initially put no badge or nameplate on his cars as he felt they didn’t need them.

The first 19 Brough Superior cars had Hudson 4.2 litre straight-eight engines from Canada but, after a dispute with Railton, the next 80 had Hudson 3.5 straight-six engines and were slightly smaller. All were big four-seater soft-tops. The final three cars were one-offs—a two-seater sports, and two saloons, the latter (the last Brough Superior) a limo powered by a Lincoln V12 Zephyr engine.

Like other car makers in 1939, Brough turned to war production, making the long camshafts for the Rolls Royce Merlin aero engines that powered the Spitfire. However, when war work ended in 1945, the firm sadly folded. In 2005 an enthusiast entrepreneur, Mark Upham, bought the rights to the Brough Superior name and a small line of Brough motorcycles have since appeared, seeking to combine the qualities of the original bikes with the best of 21st century technology.

The surviving cars still can be seen at classic car gatherings and are regarded as the rarest of the rare, the best of the best. Very occasionally one comes up for sale or auction, usually fetching a near-stratospheric price.

I once set eyes on one, lying mildewed in a byre with chickens pecking around the crumpled tyres. It still haunts me that I didn’t have the bottle to buy it.