Gunga Din (motorcycle)

The motorcycle that would come to be known as Gunga Din was manufactured on 3 April 1947.^[1]: 52 It was described as a "rattler".^[2][3]: 62 This may have been due to the engine having been run at some point with the sump filled with kerosene rather than oil.^[4] The bike was transferred to the Experimental Section headed by factory tester and racer George Brown, where it joined Brown's "Cadwell Special" single.^[5]

The cast-off Rapide was extensively modified by Brown, working with his brother Cliff and with assistance from Vincent designer Phil Irving.^{[6]: 59 [7] : 52} The bike was given serial number F10AB/1A/71, the "1A" engine designation here meaning "modified Rapide", although this code would later be used to identify White Shadow engines. (This was the second 1A built, the first having been 10AB/1A/70 built for Jack Surtees, father of John.^[8]) Brown soon put the modified Rapide, labelled "HRD racing solo", to work on the track.^[1]

The "Gunga Din" name came from the title character of the Rudyard Kipling poem, and was first applied to the motorcycle in an article written by motorcycle racer and journalist Charles Markham.^[9]: 31 Markham was given Gunga Din for a weekend trial, and opened his review of the bike for the 13 November 1947 issue of Motor Cycling magazine by quoting the last lines of the poem, and by doing so named the bike.^[5][10]

Apart from its racing duties, Gunga Din also served as the development bike for both the Black Shadow road and Black Lightning racing models.^{[1]: 52–53}

After serving as a factory racer and development mule, the bike was abandoned. In 1960 the new owners of the Vincent factory allowed members of the Vincent Owners Club (VOC) to search the old property.^[4] Peter Gerrish, public relations officer for the VOC, found Gunga Din under some sacks in an out-building on the grounds.^[4] There was extensive corrosion and the front wheel was missing, but a spare Black Shadow wheel was put in place to allow the bike to be sold. At first there were no takers at the asking price of about £250.

The bike was bought by American Tom Pelkey, who had Gunga Din shipped to his home in Wisconsin U.S.A.^[11] Pelkey began to sell the bike off in pieces. Richard Garrett bought as much of Gunga Din as he could, and verified the parts based on serial numbers. Without the funds to restore the bike himself, Garrett sold what he had to American Vincent collector Keith Hazelton in 1975.^[5] Hazelton continued to track down missing items, looking specifically for parts with the "EX" serial number indicating an Experimental part.^[4] Hazelton kept the disassembled Gunga Din in boxes for 30 years.^[5] Paul Holdsworth documented and photographed everything that Hazelton had.^[11] Eventually Hazelton sold the bike to Paul Pflugfelder in April 2009.^[9]: 32 Pflugfelder delivered the collected parts to Precision Automotive Restoration Inc. in Massachusetts.^[12][13] His instruction to Precision AR was to have the bike ready to appear at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in four months time. Motorcycle broker and amateur Vincent historian Somer Hooker used Holdsworth's pictures to certify that the bike at Pebble Beach was Gunga Din.^[11] Hooker also documented much of Gunga Din's later history.^[4] At Pebble Beach that year Gunga Din was runner-up for Best of Show to a 1954 AJS E-95 "Porcupine". At the 2010 Concours d'Elegance of America in Meadow Brook Michigan Gunga Din took Best in Show.^[11] By that time the bike had been sold to Canadian Bar Hodgson.^[12] Ginga Din appeared at Cobble Beach on 13 September 2015 and won the Margaret Dunning "Spirit of Driving" Special Award.^[14]

Gunga Din's Vincent V-twin engine displaced the same 998 cc (60.9 cu in) as the standard Rapide's, but during the course of its active life was upgraded and rebuilt numerous times, with the bike's specifications changing steadily.^[5] The earliest rounds of internal changes included enlarged ports, triple valve springs, polished connecting rods and engine case, a lightened flywheel, and a compression ratio that had been raised from 6.8:1 to 7.3:1. The original 1+1⁄16-inch (27 mm) Amal carburettors were replaced by larger 1+1⁄8-inch (29 mm) units. These changes raised power output from 45 bhp (34 kW) to 55 bhp (41 kW).^[4]

Gunga Din was originally equipped with the Brampton girder fork front suspension used on the Series B Rapides. This unit was later replaced by a prototype of the Vincent Girdraulic front suspension. At one point during its racing career Brown switched the bike back to the Brampton fork.^[3]: 62 The rear suspension was a version of the Vincent cantilever system. Over time the bike received a new Rear Frame Member (RFM), new seat, and a different petrol tank and wheels.^[9]: 31 The bike had its mudguards cut down and stands removed.