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Today in Motorcycle History

Leonard

Leonard were motorcycles produced by J. J. Leonard at his works in Long Acre, London, from 1903 to 1904.

  • 1903 The machines used Minerva, MMC or Fafnir engines, fitted into a conventional loop frame. They had braced forks and belt drive.

    1904 The engine became the 3½ hp MMC, but a 2¾ hp was also listed. That year the make changed its name to L and C, the initials of Lurquin and Coudert, with whom they had a relationship.

    The models offered were typically primitive and had 2¾ hp and 3½ hp MMC, De Dion and Antoine engines, braced forks and belt drive.

    The Leonard marque was short-lived, but the L and C brand re-appeared on the Continental Motor Co. stand at the 1907 Stanley Show.


Mr. J. Leonard, Brockley Road, Brockley, S.E., is exhibiting a well-made motor bicycle manufactured by himself, and known as the Leonard. It is propelled by a 3½ h.p. M.C.C. engine, carried in a cradle in a loop frame, and fed by a Longuemare carburetter of ample size. A spare tank and all point back-pedalling brake are fitted. The N.S. Electric Storage Co., Horton, Kent, are showing on their stand a good accumulator, which possesses several novel properties. Firstly, it will stand, so the company affirm, any amount of jolting and rough treatment; secondly, the plates cannot buckle, nor the paste drop out; thirdly, owing to the porous nature of the litharge[1] and the separators used, should the cell be broken and all the acid escape, sufficient of the electrolyte will be retained to run the machine for a considerable time.

Report on the 1904 Crystal Palace Show

Notes: 1. Litharge is one of the natural mineral forms of lead oxide, PbO.

Sources: Graces Guide, The Motor Cycle February 23rd 1904, pp174-176



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