1957 Phillips P39 Gadabout Moped
The previous owner bought this Gadabout in 1975. He’s in his eighties now and, since taking it off the road many years ago, it has been dry-stored. The paint is good original. It’s recently been restored in our workshops, and now has an MOT (March 2010).
It’s in good condition all round, except for a missing rear panel on the offside. Judging from the ‘M’ on the back of it, it seems to have a Mobylette saddle. I’ve recently bought a Mobylette BG43 in France with the wrong saddle, so I’ll replace this one with a correct item (I have another Gadabout for restoration/spares).
It retains its original 1957 logbook. The first recorded keeper is George Childs of Lowestoft, who registered it on 22nd May 1957. According to the entries in the old logbook, a year’s road tax was 17/- 6d for a 49cc machine at the time, rising to £1 in 1962 and to £2 in 1966.
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SHORT VIDEO of GADABOUT RUNNING
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Once the idea of ‘mo-peds’ took hold in Europe, motorcycle manufacturers worked hard to get an example onto the market. Many British companies bought in German engines to power their machines, and Phillips used the Rex. Rex was a well-established German company who manufactured front-mounted cycle-attachment engines (which were already being imported into GB and sold as the rear-mounted Cyclaid). To see a 1952 Rex FM50 –
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The Phillips moped was cheap at its launch in 1955 but it was not as good a machine as its competitors. It sold for £57 17/- 11d in 1955 (up to 66 guineas a year later in the advert below)
But that’s what we like – mopeds that are not as good as their competitors. It’s called ‘onedownmanship.’
Overall, this delightful old Phillips is in very good original condition and ready for faithful service as your local runabout – assuming you have the occasional masochistic tendencies 🙂
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PHILLIPS GADABOUT
The P39 Gadabout made its debut at the 1955 Earls Court Show. This was the show that ‘killed’ the cyclemotor, with new fangled ‘mo-peds’ introduced by many different companies from Great Britain and Europe. So competition was very strong, and the Gadabout didn’t offer either a low enough price or sufficiently innovative design to stand out from the others. The NSU Quickly stole the glory …and most of the sales.
Phillips did have a strong export market for its bicycle division though. My guess is that, to boost sales until they picked up in the home market, the Gadabout would have been foisted upon the British Commonwealth countries. There’s a brief introduction to J. A. Phillips & Co. Ltd Cycles at the Online Bicycle Museum http://www.oldbike.eu –
Spares for the Phillips Gadabout Rex engine are available from Mark Daniels. Email: mopedland@mdhercules.fsnet.co.uk
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PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE BIDDING
OWNER: BuyVintage Online Auctions
LOCATION: Brighton, E.Sussex, United Kingdom
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DELIVERY is not included in this auction.
This means that it is not my responsibility,
BUT I can put you in touch with a delivery chap and organize collection;
you liaise with them direct re delivery and pay them separately.
Great Britain – delivery is ONLY £50 for this cyclemotor to main parts of England;
extra to extremities such as Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, etc (and may take longer to arrive)
(Please email your postcode if you want to confirm price).
THIS BARGAIN PRICE DELIVERY IS ON A PART-LOAD BASIS.
(Collection when they’re in my area; delivery when in yours).
LOCAL DELIVERY FREE
If you want it fast, please organize your own collection.
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Ireland & N. Ireland – I’ll recommend some companies, but you’ll have to organize it yourself.
Europe – delivery is probably around €400 to Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Spain, etc. I can recommend two companies.
North America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, etc – I’ll organize all the crating and shipping for you.
PAYMENT: Paypal is okay for cheap items; otherwise deposit only on paypal please.
INTERNATIONAL PURCHASERS:
You must communicate with me before the end of the auction to discuss payment and shipping options.
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AFTER PURCHASE: Please email me your phone numbers; I prefer to speak to all purchasers personally.
I do everything I can to make your purchase a pleasurable experience.
I’ve been selling obscure vintage vehicles on ebay since 2002.
Sharing similar interests, I’ve become good friends with many of my customers.
Please feel free to email or phone with any comments or questions…
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VEHICLE CONDITION: Vintage vehicles are wonderful beasts
– but each has an individual personality and they sometimes have bad days just like you and me.
You will need basic mechanical skills (or a local mechanic) to use one on a regular basis.
Two-strokes invariably need basic servicing before starting them, if they’ve been left to stand for more than 3 weeks or so.
These are rare vehicles whose values are not necessarily based on running order.
IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THE ABOVE, PLEASE DO NOT BID
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