1964 Velocette Viper – Venom Conversion

Description

• Rare ‘squish head’ version
• Original Viper converted to Venom spec
• Cracking condition
• A legendary and unique motorcycle

There are few names in motorcycling history that conjure such emotion and passion and desire like Velocette. Their infrequent appearance on the open market always attracts interest. This one will be no different.

Velocette were made by Veloce Ltd, in Birmingham. One of several motorcycle manufacturers in the city, Veloce were a small, family-owned firm selling far fewer hand-built motorcycles than the giants BSA, Norton and Triumph.

Although small, the company was a technical innovator and many of its patented designs are commonplace on motorcycles today, including the positive-stop foot shift and swinging arm rear suspension with hydraulic dampers. Sadly, the business suffered a gradual decline during the late 1960s, eventually closing in February 1971.

Of all the lost British motorcycle marques, Velocette was possibly the biggest loss of all. They had in production three of the finest motorcycles of their time, the Viper, Venom and Thruxton.  Great names and great looking bikes that had a competition pedigree which the consumer could be a part of to some extent with the Clubman road-racer versions of the Viper and Venom.

History

This very attractive Viper-Venom conversion, manufactured by Velocette in the heady days of 1964, started life as 350cc Viper. The legendary Venom came later.

• Introduced in October 1955, the single-cylinder Viper was developed from the 500cc Velocette MSS
• This in turn led to the almost identical 500cc Velocette Venom
• The 349cc engine had a bi-metal cylinder with a cast iron liner, high compression piston and alloy cylinder head
• It utilised the same bottom end as the Venom
• The Viper had chrome plating and was offered in a choice of black or “willow green” paintwork
• The Velocette Venom was 500 cc single-cylinder four-stroke
• Around 5,000 machines were produced.
• In 1961 a factory-prepared faired Velocette Venom and a team of riders set the 24-hour world record at a speed of 100.05 mph at the Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry, racetrack in France
• It was the first motorcycle to average over 100 mph continuously for 24 hours and no 500cc or single-cylinder motorcycle has broken this record

Squish Head

• The very rare squish head Velocettes all had specially machined hemispherical combustion chamber
• They were built to exacting standards with very small tolerance in order to get the maximum power from the engine
• The piston almost makes contact with the cylinder head
• The most effective gap between piston and cylinder head over these lands is a miniscule 0.035” thou. The so called “squish” clearance

This Velocette

From the images, you’ll be able to see the condition for yourself. We’ve picked out just a few highlights.

• Visually stunning with matt black fishtail exhaust
• Chrome clip-ons – fully adjustable to suit any rider
• Fly screen
• Polished stainless-steel mudguards
• Wheels are alloy flanged with stainless spokes
• Polished fuel filler cap
• One piece seat
• Polished alloy crankcase cover
• Central speedo in white

Our vendor tells us: “This is a fully refurbished machine. It has a 12v coil Boyer Branson ignition easy starter 500cc alfin barrel and squish head. The unleaded, high-grade fuel only tank in very good internal condition and remote Leyland oil filter set up

There’s a history file with old MOTs back to 1980s, previous photos, old tax discs and invoices for parts. The last MOT was in 2019 and it’s not been not used since.”

The whole bike is a work of art!

Our view

Very infrequently do these come to market. Ones in this condition are very rare. As piece of motorcycling history, Velocette has few equals. They were highly prized in their day. The small production runs kept values high. Because of their scarcity today prices for any Velocette in any condition have remained high. Ones in running order like this just keep increasing. It won’t be long before they become the preserve of wealthy collectors.

Our vendor is an enthusiast. He wants this to go to good home, be driven and enjoyed and shown for everyone to enjoy. He has set the reserve very reasonably to reflect that.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

Good luck bidding! Please remember, our site uses anti-sniping software which ensures fairness to all bidders. So, if a bid for a lot is received in the last minute, the auction will go into a 2-minute overtime period for each subsequent bid.

Vehicle Location: Chester CH64 – it’s the responsibility of the winning bidder to make collection / transportation arrangements directly with the vendor.

Have a question about this Velocette? Please contact the Evoke team at auction@evoke-classics.com and we will speak to the vendor on your behalf.

Guide Prices?

We’re different. But you know that. And we’re always honest. In a sector where no two classics are same, how does anyone put a ‘guide’.

Well, everyone knows the broad value of classic, let’s all be honest. So we don’t need to tell you what you already know, do we.

The ‘market’ decides and the old cliché that ‘it’s worth what someone wants to pay’ is no less true. So why kid everyone!

But, because we are different, if it really does matter to you, that’s fine, we want you to be happy. Just drop us a line at auction@evoke-classics.com and one of us will be delighted to ring you back and discuss, it’s what we do.

Tedious but it’s vital you read this, please.

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Two final comments on images and photos.

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