Top: Richards Twin. Centre: Richards Twin Tank. Bottom: Wm Richards, Minerva (possibly).
Assembled by P. Richards of Adelaide using a Minerva and Peugeot engines. Advertised 1906 to 1911.
Terry Parker of the VVMCSA forwarded a short letter, the gist of which reads:
A friend suggested the Richards was built by Percy Richards, a marine engineer in Adelaide, who had built from scratch the engine which powered the ferry which crossed the Port River before there was a bridge. He also fitted car engines to launches, yachts and fishing boats. However, further research suggested otherwise.
In 1907 a club was formed in Burra which met in the garage of William John Richards, who rode his motorcycle in the club events. A photograph exists of the cars and cycles formed up in front of his garage in 1906 before an event, and Wm Richards on his motorcycle, between two of the cars, has been identified.
The Burra Record of 15th March 1905 reports the trip by Paul Bayles from Burra to Broken Hill on a Minerva-powered Richards which took 12½ hours each way and cost 3/- in fuel.
Sources: Howard Burrows; Terry Parker.
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