- Restored in England in 2017
- 4-stroke single-cylinder engine
- A462
This extraordinary 1904 Ariel 3.5 HP is among the earliest examples known from the Ariel factory, and it was restored to a concours standard in 2017 in England. Ariel built its first motorcycle in 1901 using a 211cc/1.5 HP Minerva engine, but Ariel built its own, larger motor in 1903, as seen here. The Ariel factory has a deep history in the Selly Oak (Birmingham) bicycle and motorcycle industry, with many famous names attached, starting with its founder James Starley in 1870. Starley and partner William Hillman built “penny farthings” bicycles with the Ariel name. Starley’s nephew, John Kemp Starley, shook up the bicycle world in 1885 when he invented the “safety” bicycle; the foundation of all modern bicycle designs as we know them today.
Ariel built its first motor vehicle in 1898, a trike with the ubiquitous 2.25 HP DeDion engine, and the company produced quadricycles and automobiles from 1901 onward. Ariel was taken over in 1902 by Components Ltd., owned by Charles Sangster, whose name would become synonymous with Ariel for decades as the company grew and developed industry-leading designs like its Red Hunter single-cylinder sports machines and Square Four 4-cylinder motorcycles, the first mass-produced fours in the UK. Both of those machines were designed in Ariel’s late-1920s heyday when Sangster hired a young Edward Turner to restyle the line and bring his unique 4-cylinder design to market. Turner moved to Triumph in the 1930s and designed its twin-cylinder Speed Twin line, eventually becoming the managing director at Triumph after WW2.
This super rare 1904 Ariel 3.5 HP single is in complete and correct condition, and it shows a clear link with Ariel’s bicycle manufacturing heritage. It uses stirrup brakes to slow the single-speed belt drive machine, and it’s powered by an inlet-over-exhaust motor and twin-chamber carburetor. It’d be difficult to find another like it, as only two other such Ariels have come to market in decades.