Today in motorcycle history, March 14, 1908

   

      

  

  Philip Conrad Vincent is born in Wilbraham Gardens in the southwest London district of Fulham.

  

  Phillip Vincent bought his first motorcycle, a used 350cc BSA from Gamages (a  department store in Central London that sold everything from motor parts to pets to shotguns) at Christmas of 1924.  By the age of 18 he had a workshop and was designing and building his own machines.  In 1928 he had registered a patent for his design of cantilever rear suspension.

  Vincent formed his first company with Frank Walker, a family friend.  Howard R. Davies, founder of the HRD marque and winner of the 1924 Senior Isle of Man TT was in serious financial disarray and in 1928 Phil was able to acquire the trademark and remaining HRD motors, jigs, patterns and all spare parts for £450.  The company was soon named Vincent-HRD Co., Ltd., and the logo appeared with Vincent in very small letters over the top of the bold HRD.  Vincent designed a brand new motorcycle with his own spring frame and marketed it as Vincent-HRD, with a choice of either a JAP or a Rudge engine.



  In 1928, the first Vincent-HRD motorcycle used a JAP single-cylinder engine in a Vincent-designed cantilever frame.  After a disastrous 1934 Isle of Man TT, with engine problems and all three entries failing to even finish, Phil Vincent, along with Phil Irving, decided to build their own engines.  In 1935 the first all Vincent powered motorcycle, The 499cc Comet model was launched.  It was quickly followed by the 998cc Series A Rapide in 1936. 

  Vincent and Irving designed the Series B twin engine which powered the 1946 Series B Rapide.  In 1948 the liver-quivering Vincent Black Shadow and Black Lightning models, powered by the Series C Rapide were introduced.  They had a 998cc, 50 degree, OHV V-twin engine running a 7.3:1 compression ratio and was capable of 125 mph.

  At a Vincent Owners' Club dinner in the summer of 1955, Phil Vincent announced that the company could no longer continue in the face of heavy losses and that production of motorcycles would cease almost immediately.  

  In 1955, one week before Christmas, the last Vincent came off the production line and was promptly labeled "The Last".  Grown men were heard sobbing uncontrollably.






  Journalist Hunter S. Thompson wrote that, "If you rode the Black Shadow at top speed for any length of time, you would almost certainly die."