1909 Premier 600cc Vee Twin
Registration no. ASJ 424
Frame no. 5238
Engine no. B40
The Premier firm's beginnings (circa 1876) were typical of the era inasmuch their roots were in the production of quality bicycles. After trading for 15 years as The Hillman & Herbert Cycle Co the Premier name was adapted in 1891, although it wasn't until 1908 that the first motorcycle was introduced -- initially fitted with a bought-in engine from White & Poppe -- followed a year later with a 600cc [3.75hp] vee-twin of their own manufacture, priced at 50 guineas. A single cylinder 500cc model was added to the range in 1909. Premier performed quite successfully on the sporting side at that time, finishing 7th in the 1909 TT, as well as a win over Triumph in an ACU Quarterly Trial event. From 1912 onwards there was a concentration upon their own cycle-car and, following the conclusion of WWI, motorcycle production ceased altogether. The company was purchased by Singer in 1920. [It is interesting to note that one of the founding partners, William Hillman, who'd left Premier in 1906, went on to create the Hillman motor car.]
Premier machines (particularly a vee-twin example) are exceptionally rare in today's vintage scene, albeit under an earlier ownership ASJ 424 participated in the annual Pioneer Run, along with at least one appearance in the Isle of Man, on which visit it successfully ascended the Mountain Section of the TT course. Although owned and ridden for several years by the late Lord Strathcarron, motoring correspondent for The Field, the Premier's history is virtually a blank, aside perhaps from a clutch of tax discs dating between 1975 and 1999. It was, however, sold at a Brooks auction in July 1999, to a Hampshire enthusiast who subsequently sold it untouched and un-ridden to the present owner -- also resident in Hampshire -- some twelve years ago. Since then the machine has been proudly stored in his living room, again never ridden, but now shod with new tyres and tubes. Fully aware that the motor should be regularly turned, and given the machine's direct transmission system, the vendor smilingly confirms that the engine has indeed been revolved...on each occasion his wife vacuumed the carpet! Nicely 'patinated' from what is thought to have been an extensive re-assembly exercise in the 1960s the Premier is presented in a very complete if non-Concours condition; the relatively tiny vee-twin is believed to be one of just two twin cylinder examples of this type still extant. The accompanying documents include a Sunbeam Club Pioneer Certificate, a V5 & V5C, current SORN literature, a 12-page illustrated Handbook, and an expired MOT Certificate dated February 1999. This undoubtedly rare Premier warrants close inspection.
