The bigger question

Quality two-stroke

Long-time TCM reader ‘Rolly Three’ bought the accompanying photo at an antique shop. What is the machine, age of photo, car and where was it taken, he asks.

Easy bit first. The machine is a circa 1932 249cc Velocette GTP, bearing a 1932 London registration mark. Other than as we can all see the car has an AA badge planted on its grill, I haven’t a clue what it is. As for the location, it is possibly a greater London shot, but equally such authority-built housing could be found in many cities, towns and villages across the UK, with many built soon after the Second World War, although some appeared before the war too.

Bob (real name Howard) Newey designed a neat little machine which his then employer Pa (James Lansdowne) Norton turned down flat. Via his girlfriend (later wife) Daisy Butterfield, he showed his