Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2016 12:53:31 GMT
Rather than tag onto Nick's good thread about manuals here honda-superdream.co.uk/thread/6818/genuine-owners-manuals
I feel quite sad as one of my manuals has this old dealers stamp in the front? Often a user or workshop manual will have interesting information inside added by the original owner- notes about spares, dealer phone numbers- even oily grubby fingermarks on certain pages make you realise they may have struggled to service or repair the bike!
But this 1979 250 or 400 NA user manual I bought on Fleabay I think- it does not belong to any of my bikes. So the identity and reg of the bike it belonged is lost. But I have just done some digging on the dealership....
Of course- it looks like that particular dealership is long gone like a lot of others- there must have been a Honda Dealership on every corner back in our heyday? J R Meredith seemed to have been trading for years up to the 80,s- as far back as the 30's and 40's. I don't know if they are still going somewhere else- but I can't find them although the Meredith family still live in the area. Way back they were selling classic Brits like Rudge, Sunbeam and AJS. They are even listed in a BSA bike user manual in 1958 as an official BSA spares supplier. Typical small dealership- John (Jack) Meredith also raced bikes as a hobby- how many old dealers also did this- quite a lot!
A while back the family seems to have auctioned off a quite famous bike that won quite a famous race ridden by a rider with a familiar name. You should recognise his son anyway! I wonder if the bike was ever displayed in the shop?
classiccars.brightwells.com/viewdetails.php?id=726
Back in 1980- maybe the same year this unknown SuperDream got sold with its manual- the local council archives have this photo. It was a simple shed, sandwiched between 2 pubs. It looked like this:-
And in a sad reflection of the world we live in now- although the building still survives it is now a house clearance shop. I found an old Planning Application from 1981 requesting permission to put up a "BMW" illuminated sign on the front- so the dealership continued to evolve. But like so many it is now gone. Looking at it now, I wonder how many AJS, BSA and later spotty-faced Superdream riders bumped up the kerb, had a quick fag and then went in for a look around. Anybody have any memories or knowledge of this dealer? I see there is still a Honda dealership in Shrewsbury- but they claim only "nearly 30 years" experience with the brand so not an evolution of J R Meredith?
It is a shame we don't know what bike this manual belongs to....
I feel quite sad as one of my manuals has this old dealers stamp in the front? Often a user or workshop manual will have interesting information inside added by the original owner- notes about spares, dealer phone numbers- even oily grubby fingermarks on certain pages make you realise they may have struggled to service or repair the bike!
But this 1979 250 or 400 NA user manual I bought on Fleabay I think- it does not belong to any of my bikes. So the identity and reg of the bike it belonged is lost. But I have just done some digging on the dealership....
Of course- it looks like that particular dealership is long gone like a lot of others- there must have been a Honda Dealership on every corner back in our heyday? J R Meredith seemed to have been trading for years up to the 80,s- as far back as the 30's and 40's. I don't know if they are still going somewhere else- but I can't find them although the Meredith family still live in the area. Way back they were selling classic Brits like Rudge, Sunbeam and AJS. They are even listed in a BSA bike user manual in 1958 as an official BSA spares supplier. Typical small dealership- John (Jack) Meredith also raced bikes as a hobby- how many old dealers also did this- quite a lot!
A while back the family seems to have auctioned off a quite famous bike that won quite a famous race ridden by a rider with a familiar name. You should recognise his son anyway! I wonder if the bike was ever displayed in the shop?
classiccars.brightwells.com/viewdetails.php?id=726
Back in 1980- maybe the same year this unknown SuperDream got sold with its manual- the local council archives have this photo. It was a simple shed, sandwiched between 2 pubs. It looked like this:-
And in a sad reflection of the world we live in now- although the building still survives it is now a house clearance shop. I found an old Planning Application from 1981 requesting permission to put up a "BMW" illuminated sign on the front- so the dealership continued to evolve. But like so many it is now gone. Looking at it now, I wonder how many AJS, BSA and later spotty-faced Superdream riders bumped up the kerb, had a quick fag and then went in for a look around. Anybody have any memories or knowledge of this dealer? I see there is still a Honda dealership in Shrewsbury- but they claim only "nearly 30 years" experience with the brand so not an evolution of J R Meredith?
It is a shame we don't know what bike this manual belongs to....
