It’s been a busy couple of weeks updating some gaps in the 1920s database entries. Something I noticed when building my aviation adverts database was the difficulty in sourcing original material (mostly magazines) from the 1920s, so recently acquiring a selection from this period was a welcome start to the new year. I imagine that the subscriber base, and thus the circulation would have been greatly diminished due to the number of young men who died in the ‘Great War’, fuel rationing, the Spanish Flu pandemic, the post war economic situation and the great Wall Street Crash at the tail end of the period for good measure. It’s also worth remembering that these magazines are in most cases 100 years old so the chances of finding any intact copies at all is a bonus! Anyway.. the database has now reached the 33,000 entries mark.
My top priority now is to complete the Ariel compilation and complete some minor updates to the current volumes. I expect to have this work complete by the first week of February. Next on the list is a much needed update to the website, especially the directory section!
I’m sometimes asked about the reason for not including more dealership adverts. It seems that users find these useful for a number of reasons including local or family history, general research, comparative prices and historical marketing methods.
Always happy to oblige so here’s one from Maude’s Motor Mart.. in keeping with our remit we include three-wheelers and cyclecars as well as motor cycles, scooters, mopeds and cyclemotors.
Maudes Motor Mart 1927 Advert
Finally I thought you might be interested to see a small selection of ads included in the latest database update. Of particular interest is the emphasis on ‘economy’ motor cycling and the return of ‘family friendly’ touring combinations.
Currently one of the (many!) issues holding back the wholesale adoption of electric cars is the lack of driveways or garage space in many houses thus precluding home charging options .. in the 1920s the lack of driveway access problem was solved for motorcycle combinations by the simple expedient of ‘folding the sidecar’ to reduce the overall width, a boon for the family transport., clever eh!
1924 Dorway folding sidecar advert.
This latest update features a great many adverts emphasising the benefits of economical powered two-wheeled transport for the ladies. Most likely this was a sales ploy as females were early adopters anyway, with many more honing their motorcycling skills during the war. I’ll leave to you to decide if the Cykelaid was elegant and graceful.
1925 Cyklelaid cyclemotor advert
1923 Triumph Motorcycle & Combination Advert
That’s it for now folks, thanks for tuning in.