The Collector Jay Leno

Revealing the peculiarities of The British Experience

- 

‘I've had a couple of classic ‘British’ motoring experiences in the past two weeks. I've always enjoyed British motoring, cars and motorcycles. I particularly enjoy Brough Superior motorcycles because they're considered to be the first superbikes, especially SS100s for their speed and build quality. And Jaguar cars for the same reason.

Back in the 1980s I joined the Brough club. While in Texas in 1988 I met a fellow Brough club member named Daryl, who a few years earlier had purchased a Brough SS680 for $1300, all in pieces in a box. The SS680 looked similar to the SS100. George Brough himself referred to it as the Baby SS100, but it was for those riders who preferred a smaller-capacity machine. It looked exactly like an SS100, only about 10% smaller. It's a pretty rare piece; only about 547 were made between 1926 and 1936.

‘What are you going to do with it?’ I asked. ‘I'd like to restore it and then sell it,’ he said. ‘Come see me when that happens,’ I replied.

That's the last I heard of him for almost 40 years. Two weeks ago he showed up at my garage with a truck and trailer and I didn't recognise him. When he pulled out a Polaroid photo of two dark-haired young men standing next to a box of motorcycle parts, I realised who it was. Now, 40 years later, we're wearing the same clothes but have grey hair.