Last Series ‘B’ Rapide Number

Vincent Dirk

Forum User
Non-VOC Member
Good Evening,

perhaps this is a question to the registrar. What was the number of
the last Rapide B produced? I wonder if my bike Frame number R3782 Engine
1882 was one of the last produced.

Best regards

Dirk
 

Simon Dinsdale

VOC Machine Registrar
VOC Member
VOC Forum Moderator
Dirk
Rather than give serial numbers, I will give dates.
Your bike Dirk was made in April 1949.
The last series B Rapide was shipped from the factory in May 1950 over a year after your bike.
Simon
 

Albervin

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Interesting stuff. While I have a Series C with an "HRD" engine are there any Series Bs with Vincent engines? Just curious. Also, I suspect that the date a bike/engine is completed may not necessarily relate to the day it was shipped from the factory.
 

bmetcalf

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
There was that big batch that Stan Hailwood bought the last of. Maybe some of the late B’s were part of that?
 

TouringGodet

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
VOC Forum Administrator
VOC Forum Moderator
I suspect that the date a bike/engine is completed may not necessarily relate to the day it was shipped from the factory.

I don’t know about that time frame, but during 1952/53, my Shadow went like this:

Passed to road test - Nov 25 1952
Road test complete - Dec 24 1952
Shipped - Sep 21 1953

9 or 10 months
 

david bowen

Well Known and Active Forum User
Non-VOC Member
IN 1949 Vincents had about 150 in stock all with HRD crankcase and inspection caps all covered in travel waxes, John Surtees and I had the job of grinding the HRD of the crankcases, we had air driven hand grinders, ,and changing the Inspection to plane ones once the HRD was ground of, the UFM was not taken off so some of the customers still had 2 HRD caps under the UFM, the only luck the company had gas tanks and seats had not been fitted. I can still see the mess alloy dust stuck to the travel wax,
 
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