01
Origins
George Brough built the strangest of his superlative machines in 1932: the BS4, powered by a modified Austin Seven car engine — water-cooled, shaft-driven, with twin rear wheels set close together — intended as the ultimate sidecar tug for the connoisseur who found even the SS100 insufficiently novel. Around ten were built at Nottingham, each as hand-finished as the marque's twins that had earned the 'Rolls-Royce of Motorcycles' epithet from an unprotesting Rolls-Royce. The Austin Four's rarity now makes it among the most valuable British motorcycles in existence. It distils Brough's whole proposition: engineering audacity, perfect finish, and a price that selected its own aristocratic clientele. George Brough never explained the twin rear wheels convincingly; at these values, nobody now asks.
1932 Brough Superior Austin Four · Thruxton · CC BY 3.0
