Sir Alliot Verdon Roe's remarkable Monocar of 1926, in the Solent Sky Museum. This is the machine that I sat in and talked about during the Top Gear TV item about FFs old and new that I presented in April 1988. PNB
See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH7ci0UTaaI&t=12s
The explanatory text in the photo reads:
"This machine was designed and built by the well-known aircraft pioneer Sir Alliot Verdon-Roe, who used it on runs between his aircraft works at Hamble and Manchester, thereby covering some 30,000 miles.
The machine has a pressed-steel frame supported on two wheels running on stub axles, the front wheel is steerable by means of a handlebar. Oleo shock absorbers as well as coil springs damped out road road vibration, and two large internal-expanding brakes were used. A light alloy body, together with a a windscreen, gave adequate weather protection, and a low bucket seat and back-rest contributed materially to riding comfort. The feet could easily be placed on the ground when stationary. A large locker is incorporated over the rear wheel.
A 250 c.c. Villiers two-stroke engine is mounted in front of the rider and drives through a 3-speed gearbox and clutch and a final shaft and worm gear to the rear wheel. The engine was started by a kickstarter. Current for lighting was supplied by a lighting coil in the Villiers flywheel magneto fitted to the engine."
Note that the machine in the photo below the blurb is not the same, at least at the front, as the machine on display; it has a completely different sloping 'bonnet'.
For those not familiar with the area, Hamble is on the Solent, just east of Southampton, in Hampshire. PNB
Photo: © Paul Blezard