Commencing with the 1937 BSA Empire Star, which find bore the Gold Star name after Wall Handley's 100mph lapping of Brooklands, many variations on the theme were to follow. In due course, models appeared in Trials, Scrambles and road racing guises and at one period it was said that there wasn't much point in entering Clubman's Class racing if you didn't own a Goldie. This of course was because of the almost complete domination of that class in the Isle of Man TT races.
However, by 1957 the Clubman's class had gone from the island and the DBD 34 performance was no longer competitive in road racing. Also the specialised production of these machines no longer had a place in the BSA programme as the single cylinder range was mainly of unit construction. Also Lucas finishes the manufacture of magnetos and dynamos, so that a major redesign would have been necessary to enable alternators to be incorporated and that was not considered to be justified.
Following this reasoning, the 350cc Goldie was phased out in 1962 and the DBD 34 went in 1963. No doubt it was a correct commercial decision but the passing was greatly mourned by enthusiasts all over the world.
This particular machine, beating the engine number DBD GS 7160, was the very last Gold Star to be built by BSA. The machine was produced to fulfil a 'special request' order by BSA dealer, Metropolitan Sports
Motorcycles of Nova Scotia, Canada.
August 6, 2011, 4:26 am
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