Before I collected vintge bicycles seriously, I restored and resold Cyclemasters. Hence the avatar and email address I’ve used since that time – WING YOUR HEEL – which comes from a Cyclemaster advertisement. Mercury Industries of Birmingham was a unique trade supplier of bicycles fitted with Cyclemaster engines.
I was intrigued when I observed that they did not sell direct to the British public. My research revealed that Mercury Industries was most likely established by the British government in 1947 to assist British cycle manufacturers in exporting bicycles to bring in the foreign exchange that Britain so desperately needed at that time.
As my vintage bicycle collection developed further, I bought a 1939 American bicycle that also used the name Mercury. So I expanded the ‘Mercury Museum’ to include other bicycles bearing the Mercury name…