Bert Greeves

Oscar Bertram "Bert" Greeves MBE (born June 5, 1906 in Lyon , France , † July 15, 1993 in Southend-on-Sea , England ) was a British engineer. He founded Invacar Ltd in 1948 and Greeves Motorcycles Ltd in 1951 . In 1972 he was inducted into the Order of the British Empire . He was married twice and had a daughter.

Early years

Bert Greeves was born in Lyon, France, in 1906, but his parents were English. His first job as a technical apprentice was with the Austin Motor Company in Longbridge near Birmingham . He later went into business for himself with a car repair shop in London . There he also built the first motor-driven wheelchair for his disabled cousin Derry Preston-Cobb . He used the motor of a lawnmower in the hand-operated wheelchair.

Automobile and motorcycle construction

Invacar model 70

Together with his cousin he then founded Invacar Ltd in Thundersley near Southend-on-Sea, where, after winning a tender from the Ministry of Pensions, he built three-wheeled disabled vehicles until the mid-1970s.

Encouraged by this success, Bert Greeves also ventured into the motorcycle market . In his spare time he was a dedicated trial rider and began collecting vintage motorcycles, including a Triumph from 1912 with the registration number OLD 1 . Derry Preston-Cobb supported him in his project. In collaboration they developed a prototype with a 197 cc single - cylinder two-stroke engine from Villiers - with the Greeves emblem on the tank. The motorcycles were actually an additional business for the manufacturer of three-wheeled disabled vehicles and so the development of prototypes had to be integrated into the daily workflow if there were gaps. Bert Greeves was a motorcycle enthusiast in his youth and always wanted to be a motorcycle manufacturer.

The Greeves motorcycles with their small, powerful engines and the light, stable frames were very successful in competitions and beat motorcycles from larger manufacturers with larger-volume engines. The company won a tender to equip the Royal Artillery's Motorcycle Display Team with motorcycles and developed the Griffon .

A change in road vehicle safety regulations in the UK marked the end of Invacar manufacturing, which was still the group’s main product. In the mid-1970s, Greeves decided to leave his company; a little later his cousin Derry Preston-Cobb also followed him. After another bad year and a factory building fire, both companies had to close in 1977.

Private life and death

Bert Greeves, who was married twice with one daughter, died on July 15, 1993 in Southend-on-Sea.

Honors

On January 1, 1972, Bert Greeves was accepted into the MBE in recognition of his services to the disabled in the country .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Jim Reynolds: Obituary: Bert Greeves . The Independent. October 6, 1993. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Celebrity: Bert Greeves Video Interviews . OV guide. Retrieved on November 24, 2014.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ ^{a b} Mirco De Cet, Daniel Quentin (editor): The Complete Encyclopedia of Classic Motorcycles . Rebo International 2005. ISBN 978-90-366-1497-9 .
4. ^ Bob Currie: Great British Motorcycles of the Fifties . Hamlyn Publishing Group 1980. ISBN 0-86363-010-3
5. ↑ Greeves . cybermotorcycle.com
6. ^ The London Gazette , December 31, 1971. Supplement 45554, p. 14. Retrieved November 24, 2014.

Web links

• Photo by Bert Greeves