When Coventry Eagle is talked about most people who know about the Coventry say “yes I would love a 1920s Flying Eight”, but as they are quite rare and worth a lot of money they seldom come up for sale. The motorcycles in this catalogue are from the other end of the spectrum and represent the more sedate and affordable commuter models from the post depression era.
1939 was the first year (and would be the last) for the lightweight Cadet models to have the new lighter tubular frame. The pressed steel frames were still being used on the Silent Superb models, having been in production now for 10 years. At one stage these frames were pressed under licence by Mammut in Germany. Naturally with disturbances in Europe the frames were later pressed in the UK until production ceased in 1939. Sadly the pressing dies were destroyed by Luftwaffe bombings in 1940. The Silent Superb Deluxe was the only model to retain the lovely alloy primary chain cases, valance mudguards and tank knee pads.
This catalogue also includes the Flying 250, 350 and 500cc OHV 4 stroke models. Interestingly the specifications don’t include any information on the engines, possibly as Coventry Eagle were using engines manufactured by Matchless.
Click on the cover below to see the complete sales catalogue.
It is a 3.6M PDF so you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view it.
