How things used to be, no Vincent content.
- Thread starter Tracey Tilley
- Start date
Being able to fill the Vincent up for less than £1.00. Could get 4 gallons for that and change.
Scraping ice from the INSIDE of the windows - no central heating
The wonderful juke box in my dad`s cafe, and getting free records that you had to put a centre in.
Bread and dripping, it was good for you then.
Learning on a Vincent at 16- learners unrestricted to cc
Not having to wear a helmet- great for road testing the bike.
Scraping ice from the INSIDE of the windows - no central heating
The wonderful juke box in my dad`s cafe, and getting free records that you had to put a centre in.
Bread and dripping, it was good for you then.
Learning on a Vincent at 16- learners unrestricted to cc
Not having to wear a helmet- great for road testing the bike.
Hi, Dave-Due to the bad weather and boredom setting in, I've stripped the "vin"-not been down for many years, not sure how many! It needs one new exhaust valve, and a rebore-done about 70,000 miles, so not too bad. Off over to Kettering as soon as the snow goes! I bet pistons aren't 50 pounds each any more! Still, Ian will give me 10%? Alan J.
Relative values
We weren't rich, but we did OK. A halfpenny was, however, a usable coin. My father was bringing home £11 pw, £550 pa, in 1953 as a machine tool operator (working all the overtime God sent). The average wage today is £24,000, a 43-fold increase. So your £50 pistons should today cost £2150. But don't worry, Ian probably doesn't read this...and if he does, I'll buy you a pint next time we meet as consolation...
My very first payslip as an apprentice gave my hourly rate as 1/5 15/16p / hr. Then 1/6 1/2p, then 1/10 3/16", over successive years. An' ah were looky...
Technical: if it is having a first rebore at 70,000, then 1) congrats, and 2) consider oversize liners in rebored muffs, because the muffs are all but certain to have lost their grip. Basically it restores the bike to the way it was when it left the factory. It made a noticeable difference to my bike (rebored in 1970 at 43,000 and fitted then with Instaseize Italian pistons) when done properly in 2004 at 50,000, and wasn't excruciatingly more expensive than just a rebore and new oversize pistons.
Tom
Tom
We weren't rich, but we did OK. A halfpenny was, however, a usable coin. My father was bringing home £11 pw, £550 pa, in 1953 as a machine tool operator (working all the overtime God sent). The average wage today is £24,000, a 43-fold increase. So your £50 pistons should today cost £2150. But don't worry, Ian probably doesn't read this...and if he does, I'll buy you a pint next time we meet as consolation...
My very first payslip as an apprentice gave my hourly rate as 1/5 15/16p / hr. Then 1/6 1/2p, then 1/10 3/16", over successive years. An' ah were looky...
Technical: if it is having a first rebore at 70,000, then 1) congrats, and 2) consider oversize liners in rebored muffs, because the muffs are all but certain to have lost their grip. Basically it restores the bike to the way it was when it left the factory. It made a noticeable difference to my bike (rebored in 1970 at 43,000 and fitted then with Instaseize Italian pistons) when done properly in 2004 at 50,000, and wasn't excruciatingly more expensive than just a rebore and new oversize pistons.
Tom
Tom
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Hello Tom, as an apprentice toolroom machinist , with the Marconi company, I earned the heady sum of £2-6-4 (about2pounds 30 p) for a 44 hour week . This was in 1959 , and we had to buy our own micrometers etc out of this, and pay our fares to college one day and one evening per week. The art of private enterprise was soon learnt!
John
John
John
John
just checked on my vincent apprenticeship indentures dated july 1950 it makes this statement 1 penny per hour will be paid subject to general behaviour i can not remember what the hour rate was
Micrometers? We used to DREAM etc etc.
We were issued with one tool: we were all given a 1 1/2 lb ball-pein hammer. I still have mine. Anything else you wanted, you borrowed from stores, on a ticket. I inherited my old man's few tools. Not one of the tools (there were only two rules and a Jacobs chuck, all of which I still use) had his own name etched on it. Evidently he had learned the fundamental principles and advanced practice of capitalism before me.
They probably prompted the standard response to the question "Have you got a rule(r)?": "Aye. Never lend tools."
We were issued with one tool: we were all given a 1 1/2 lb ball-pein hammer. I still have mine. Anything else you wanted, you borrowed from stores, on a ticket. I inherited my old man's few tools. Not one of the tools (there were only two rules and a Jacobs chuck, all of which I still use) had his own name etched on it. Evidently he had learned the fundamental principles and advanced practice of capitalism before me.
They probably prompted the standard response to the question "Have you got a rule(r)?": "Aye. Never lend tools."
What occurs to me is that while this doesn't have "Vin content" it has, potentially of far greater value to today's owners, "Vin context" and if it serves to dispel the belief that all Vincent employees were drop-outs from Cartier and Faberge, then it is beyond price. Not "art for art's sake" but "money for God's sake". These wonderful machines were built by men on piece-work, on clapped-out machine tools. I personally possess almost as much precision measuring equipment today, as my employer did in toto.
Tom
Tom
Tom, not a lot of use if you are driving a jig borer! However, there were days when I was sorely tempted.........and I still have my micrometer in its original case.
By the way, have you noticed how cheap micrometers are now compared to when we were chicks? I dont think one bought at todays prices would still be a treasured possesion 50 years later as is my old Moore and Wright.
John