This is a rare 1913 Wilkinson TMC Four, it’s a historically significant motorcycle and one of the earliest examples of a true touring motorcycle ever made.
Wilkinson motorcycles were among the most advanced in the world back in the early 20th century, offering front and rear suspension, brakes on both wheels, liquid-cooling, excellent reliability, and inline-four cylinder engines were used on some models (like this one).
Fast Facts – The Wilkinson TMC Four
- The 1913 Wilkinson TMC Four was one of the earliest touring motorcycles, produced by Wilkinson Sword, a company known for making guns and razors. It featured advanced technology for its time, including an inline-four cylinder engine, front and rear suspension, and liquid cooling.
- Wilkinson began motorcycle production in 1903, initially for military use. Their civilian model, the TMC (Touring Motor Cycle), was introduced in 1912 with an 830cc water-cooled side valve inline-four engine, offering superior power and speed compared to period contemporaries.
- Production of Wilkinson motorcycles was limited, with estimates ranging from 125 to 250 units made before manufacturing ceased in 1916 due to World War I. Very few examples survive today, making this 1913 model particularly significant.
- This specific 1913 Wilkinson TMC Four has a fascinating history, including ownership by a WWI dispatch rider. It underwent an extensive restoration in the 1980s and is now being auctioned by Bonhams with an estimated price of $100,000 – $130,000 USD.
Wilkinson Sword
The company Wilkinson Sword is perhaps best remembered today as a British brand for shaving razors, with many young men using their disposable blades for their first shaves. The brand’s history dates back much further than this however, they started out making guns out of a workshop in London in 1772 – the company’s first name was Nock, Jover & Co.
Wilkinson Sword would become better known in later years for their stainless steel shaving razors, but they started out making guns, swords, and bayonets for the British Military back in the 1700s. Image courtesy of Wilkinson Sword.
The firm would later be renamed James Wilkinson & Son, then finally the Wilkinson Sword Company in 1891. They would produce a line of swords and bayonets for military use, as well as a variety of firearms including seven-barreled volley guns for the Royal Navy.
During the American Revolutionary War from 1775 to 1783 the company would produce vast quantities of both firearms and blades for military use, these military contracts would continue well into the future, including both WWI and WWII.
Motorcycle Production Begins
In 1903 the company would begin motorcycle production, likely seeing the surging popularity of the new means of conveyance and realizing that the machining tools required for making guns was also well-suited to manufacturing many motorcycle components.
Due to the company’s long-standing relationship with the British Armed Forces, their first design was for a military motorcycle and sidecar combination designed by P G Tacchi, and equipped with a Maxim machine gun. This motorcycle failed to impress the powers that be, and so interest was shifted to making motorcycles for civilian use.
A new inline-four cylinder motorcycle engine was developed in-house for the motorcycle, it would be one of the most luxurious examples of its kind anywhere in the world at the time, with front and rear suspension, twin brakes, a comfortable bucket seat for the rider rather than a saddle, and a top speed of 65 mph.
The Wilkinson TMC Four was designed to essentially be a car on two wheels, with a comfortable seat, good ergonomics, and ample power from its advanced liquid-cooled engine.
The first version was called the Wilkinson TAC (short for Touring Auto Cycle), it was first shown to the public in 1909, with power provided by a 676cc inlet-over-exhaust inline-four with a 3-speed transmission and a shaft drive the rear wheel.
By 1912 the company had a new model ready, it would be called the Wilkinson TMC (short for Touring Motor Cycle) and it would be powered by a new 830cc water-cooled side valve inline-four offering more power and speed, and it rode on quarter elliptic rear springs and girder front forks.
Many of these features were almost unheard of in a motorcycle at the time, most had only front suspension (if they had any suspension at all), most engines were single cylinder units with a smattering of V-twins, and liquid-cooling on a motorcycle was highly unusual.
The relatively high cost of the Wilkinson TMC put it up near the price of some of the less expensive automobiles and autocycles of the time, perhaps as a result of this sales were somewhat modest, with figures from 125 up to 250 units in total being the most commonly believed.
Motorcycle production would stop in 1916 due to WWI, with Wilkinson production shifting over to bayonet production for the war effort. Very few Wilkinson TMCs are known to have survived to the modern day, just a handful are known to exist worldwide.
Some early Wilkinson motorcycles had a steering wheel in place of the more traditional handlebars, however this feature was soon dropped.
The 1913 Wilkinson TMC Four Shown Here
The motorcycle you see here is a 1913 Wilkinson TMC Four, it’s the best example of the model we’ve seen come up for sale in recent memory. It was originally bought in 1914 by Mr Roland Beckett of Sleafield, a wealthy South African studying electrical engineering, who later served as a dispatch rider with the Royal Signals during WWI.
The motorcycle was bought by its second owner in the early 1920s, it was in dismantled condition by this time, and the rebuild wouldn’t begin until forty years later in the 1960s. By 1983 the bike was largely complete though not in running condition, its owner passed away and it would be bought by Richard Mummery.
Mummery and a team of friends set to work disassembling the bike and restoring it back to running condition, this included fabricating many replacement parts according to factory specifications – the aim was to keep to the original design as closely as possible.
The liquid-cooled inline four featured side valves, a displacement of 830cc, and offered excellent reliability. Power was sent back through a 3-speed manual transmission to a shaft final drive.
The bike was completed by 1986, taking part in the Sunbeam MCC’s Pioneer Run that year. The bike is now being offered directly from the ownership of Richard Mummery with a large history file containing copies of in-period advertisements; Derek Ince’s driving license; factory and other correspondence; factory brochures; copies of press cuttings and magazine articles; factory promotional material; copy original registration particulars; action and restoration photographs; V5C document, Pioneer Certificate, etc etc (perusal recommended).
It’s now due to roll across the auction block with Bonhams on the 13th of October with a price guide of $100,000 – $130,000 USD. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Bonhams
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