A Brief History of the Marque
1922-1929 Arco Motorradwerke Augst & Co., Speyer
Arco (an abbreviation of Augst, Reichert & co) were built in Speyer, Germany.
Arco began producing motorcycles in 1922, a year before the economic boom of the 20s resulted in hundreds of new German manufacturers appearing, only to see most vanish again mid-decade. Most of these companies built light, inexpensive machines using two-stroke engines from other manufacturers. Despite the fact that there was an economic crisis in Germany, it is interesting to note that the firms which made the more expensive motorcycles tended to survive the roaring twenties.
Arco used watercooled four-stroke engines of their own manufacture, initally OHV 250cc units and from 1925 also an OHV 350 cc which became their most popular model. It had a 348 cc engine (bore x stroke: 74 x 81, compression ratio 6.1:1, 12 HP at 3600 RPM).
In 1929 they displayed at the International Automobile Exhibition in Berlin a single cylinder OHC 498 cc machine. The stock market crash later that year brought production to a halt.
Little is known about the number of motorcycles produced or sold. Presumably they were only sold in the regional market.
Some sources list the marque as late as 1932.
Notes. 1. This article previously stated, "In 1927 the company was acquired by NV Arco Motorenfabriek, Amsterdam..." However, motopedia-online.info says that this "...could not be verified anywhere during this research. It also appears implausible based on the information available regarding the company's history."
One of the few images available of the OHC Arco machine purportedly built by the Dutch concern has German text.
Sources: Sergio Scalerandi; GTU Oldtimerservice; Motopedia.
Mike Jordan of Motorrennsport-Archiv kindly supplied images to Sergio for this article. The site contains a wealth of information and is well worth visiting.
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