Watsonian of Birmingham announced their new bicycle sidecars – “folding and quickly detachable models for children and goods” – in March, 1934. As you can see from the prospectus below, they had not yet fixed the prices. I assume they were available from summer 1934.
The two outfits presented here represent those options announced at their launch: a Triumph Gents ‘Jack of Clubs’ with children’s passenger sidecar, and a matching Ladies Triumph with a goods sidecar, which is actually an identical sidecar chassis but instead of the passenger body it carries a wicker basket …in this case a picnic basket.
That was he point of these sidecars: they could easily be attached or removed, and the choice of a fitting a passenger unit or a basket (or box) made it very versatile. You can imagine a man with a shop using the sidecar chassis fitted with a box during the week for local deliveries and the passenger body fitted at the weekend to carry one of children when the family went on an outing. In this case, dad took the child and mum took the picnic.
1950s Triumph Ladies & Gents Bicycles with Sidecars:
Triumph Gents ‘Jack of Clubs’ with Children’s Passenger Sidecar
Triumph Ladies with Goods Sidecar
(Now sold)
The Triumph ‘Jack of Clubs’ is in good unrestored original cosmetic condition, with all its transfers (decals) intact. The saddle is cracked and the paint is worn on the mudguards. The sidecar’s passenger unit has an excellent body and a superb interior; its wood frame is also in sound condition. There’s a Watsonian logo outside, on the side at the front and also on the rear, and a Watsonian plaque on the dashboard below the front windscreen. The windows are cracked (I have clear plastic available for replacement windscreens). The tyre holds air and is usable.
I’ve had both of these sidecar outfits in storage for many years; I store them separately so I can hang them up. I have all the nuts, bolts and fittings required, but have just removed them from storage and placed them alongside the bicycles to be photographed.
The Ladies Triumph is in original unrestored cosmetic condition. The paintwork is reasonable, the transfers are intact (down tube and rear mudguard). The chrome has surface rust and needs polishing. The lighting unit is intact (including the battery contained) but the wires would need checking and batteries replacing for it to work. The sidecar chassis is in good condition, with all fittings as required. The basket would be held in place by wires threaded through the bottom of the wicker and around the chassis struts. Without the basket fitted, the sidecar chassis can fold up over the rear mudguard for easy storage. The basket is ready for a picnic.
