1928 Coventry Eagle 350cc (see text)
Registration no. TE 3100
Frame no. 41572
Engine no. IY/C 95384

'The Coventry Eagle motorcycle was born out of a cycle company formed by Messrs Hotchkiss, Mayo and Meek in 1890, selling "Royal Eagle" cycles at their Hill Cross factory.' – Damien Kimberley, 'Coventry's Motorcycle Heritage'. Established in Victorian times as a bicycle manufacturer, Coventry Eagle built a diverse range of motorcycles using proprietary (mainly JAP) engines from circa 1900 onwards, though machines only began to be produced in significant numbers after WWI. A dozen-or-so Coventry-Eagles were offered for 1928, ranging from the diminutive 147cc D21 lightweight to the formidable 998cc 'Flying 8' v-twin.

Its accompanying old-style buff logbook and V5C document give this machine's engine capacity as 243cc, a size not offered by Coventry Eagle for 1928 when it was first registered. The engine is a JAP badged as a Coventry Eagle; its number's 'I' prefix indicates that it is a '350' (70x90mm bore/stroke), while the 'C' is JAP's letter code for 1928. 'Y' indicates a twin-port engine, suggesting that this sidevalve unit may have been rebuilt using a non-original crankcase. Believed restored circa 2005, the machine was acquired by the current vendor in July 2006 and was last used in 2010. Re-commissioning will be required before it returns to the road.