FOR motorbike enthusiasts they are the legacy of bygone engineering.

And for those lucky enough to have purchased a Panther or Scott they are helping to keep the memory, and the legacy, alive.

The development of Phelon & Moore in Cleckheaton, the company which would later go on and produce the Panther marque is well documented.

Joah Phelon was the man behind the motorbike which has now become a collector’s item for enthusiasts who are preserving a very important piece of the past.

It was apparently while working as a wire-drawer in the town that Joah spotted photographs of motorbikes in newspapers and magazines.

Eventually, he made one for himself and was able to develop the design through his partnership with Harry Rayner.

Sadly, Harry died - it is believed he was the first person in the world to be killed in a motoring accident.

At that time, Joah didn’t have the time to continue making motorbikes until 1903 when he met Richard Moore the designer of what was then a revolutionary two-speed gear for motorbikes.

Clinching a contract to produce a motorbike for the Royal Flying Corps, later to become the RAF, helped to keep the company flourishing.

One interesting photo, believed to have been taken a century ago, and supplied by the Panther Owner’s Club, shows the female despatch riders using the Panther motorbikes, supplied to the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Auxiliary Service, for their military messenger duties.

Another fascinating photo, kindly supplied by The Photographic Archive, Bradford Museums and Galleries and courtesy of the C H Wood collection, captures a photoshoot with two employees holding up a white sheet as a backdrop to a Panther bike which appears to be hot off the production line in the Cleckheaton factory, off Bradford Road, which has now been demolished.

The Panther Owners Club kindly supplied an aerial shot of the firm which you will see in our photo gallery.

By the early 1930s the firm managed to stave off potential liquidation with the development of the ‘go to work motorbike’ - The Red Panther.

Priced at £29.17 and sixpence, this affordable bike apparently sold like hotcakes.

However, all good things come to an end and, it seems, the motorbike simply struggled to compete with the modern marques being created within the thriving automotive industry.

In later years, the introduction of the MINI, one of the first iconic motorcars whose characteristics instantly appealed to the mass market, turned many off two-wheels and on to four.

So, it came as no surprise, that in 1966 Phelon & Moore went into liquidation.

A few miles down the road in the city of Bradford, Alfred Angas Scott (1874-1923) had also been busy developing his state-of-the-art two speed bike.

Alfred’s initial Scott had a homemade twin cylinder engine.

He developed the model to incorporate water cooling, telescopic forks, low slung weight and a lightweight duplex frame.

The bike also boasts a distinctive engine sound, referred to by many Scott enthusiasts.

Initially manufactured under contract by the Bradford-based car company, Jowett, production eventually moved to the Saltaire works in 1910.

Before the First World War, the Scott model was state-of-the-art.

But proof of its prowess was in competing. Securing wins in the famous Isle of Man TT races in 1912 and 1913 led to its reputation as the superbike of its time.

The company went on to produce the Squirrel, The Super Squirrel and The Flying Squirrel.

In 1950 it went into voluntary liquidation but the Scott would ride again when Matt Holder, who bought the Scott manufacturing rides, began manufacturing Scotts in Birmingham creating The Scott Swift, although this never went into production and the George Silk Scott.

This photo gallery of our home-grown bygone transportation is bound to evoke fond memories for those familiar with the mentioned marques created by local manufacturers.

Interestingly The Photographic Archive of Bradford Museums and Galleries, based at Bradford Industrial Museum, Eccleshill, who kindly loaned some of the photos of these bygone bikes, has recently acquired an additional 500 images from the C H Wood Ltd collection, mainly of motorbike scrambles.

The original C H Wood collection, acquired by Bradford Museums and Galleries in 2003, comprises 300,000 negatives and prints taken by one of the best known commercial photographers in the region - Charles Harold Wood (C H Wood).

C H Wood began his career in photography in 1922 and set up his business, C H Wood (Bradford) Ltd a decade later.

Working for many of the city’s notable names, he captured life through a lens during assignments for most of Bradford’s well-known textile, engineering and manufacturing firms.

He also specialised in aerial photography, literally giving him a bird’s eye view to produce some of the finest views of the North of England.

Special thanks to the The Photographic Archive of Bradford Museums and Galleries based at Bradford Industrial Museum, Eccleshill and the Panther Owners Club.

For more information, or to view other bygone photographs of Bradford visit The Photographic Archive of Bradford Museums and Galleries at photos.bradfordmuseums.org