Marusho Lilac Le Mans

[33d6]

I’ve been ploughing through the old registration records for my home state of Victoria in Aus and came across a Le Mans motorcycle. Not thé Moto Guzzi Le Mans but just plain Le Mans, all dating from the 1959-61 period.

After much faffing about I’ve ascertained these were actually Lilac 250 and 300cc  transverse vee twins and I’m now wondering if anyone out there can tell me why they were sold here under the Le Mans banner rather than Lilac.

It’s no great drama, just a matter of cleaning up an administrative mess as I also have Lilac records some of which are duplicates of the Le Mans records. The eventual aim is simply to be able to provide any owners of surviving Lilacs an accurate record of what came to Victoria.

[R]

How many bikes are we talking about here ?

I'm wondering if it was like the owner of a Matchless here, who registered it just after the Y2K kerfuffle.
He said they couldn't find it as a maker, so they registered it as a Yamaha.
And had the papers to prove it !!
It does sound like there will be a better story behind ye Lilacs though.

As an aside, I always liked the look of those little Lilacs - and the (unrelated) Lambretta race ones.
Did end up with a LeMans ...

[33d6]

The majority of Lilacs in Victoria were first registered as Le Mans. I haven’t counted them to get the exact number but there’s about 50 of them with about a dozen or so registered as Lilacs—- and some of those are duplicates of bikes originally registered as a LeMans. It seems that years later down the track if a bike was returned to the road the Le Mans bit was long forgotten so it treated as a first time registration and the paperwork filed as a Lilac.
It’s all very odd and I’d like to know why.
As it is it’s taken a bit of faffing about to record and reorganise this stuff so Lilac owners can actually track down their bikes history I’d like to know the story behind it.

[cardan]

I know almost nothing about this one, although I did discover a Lilac (or Le Mans) engine in a box "out the back" of the motorcycle wreckers in Abbottsford c1979! I'm surprised so many made it to the road in Victoria.

Looking at the papers, I can find nothing, but a short article in Old Bike Australia https://www.pressreader.com/australia/old-bike-australasia/20140601/281573763773939 includes a recollection that they were sold by LeMans Motors.

Leon

[33d6]

I had a quick look through the cards and found records for two only of the Electra. Engine numbers R2/0615 and the other R2/1108.
R2/0615 was in frame number F9-0609 and first registered DK 631 on 10/3/67 and re-registered JS 310 on 12/7/74.
R2/1108 was first registered DT 229 on 16/7/68. No more known.

I think the Le Mans Motors comment answers the Le Mans badge name question. We had yet to  come to terms with Japanese naming conventions back then and perhaps it was thought Lilac was a step too far for many riders?

[R]

Don't know if it adds anything, but that article mentions that Harry Beanham took an interest in Lilacs.
There is a webpage about him and them.

https://www.marusholilac.com/beanham

Note the comment about Mahler's importing "hundreds of them"   
??

[chaterlea25]

Hi 33d6,
I have been contacted by a fellow BSA A10 Forum member who also has a Lilac
He wants to make contact with you regarding registration details of his model
I sent you a PM some while ago but not had an acknowledgement or neither has the Lilac owner
I am sending you a further PM with "Col's" email and phone number

Happy new Year
John

[33d6]

Hi John,
Sorry about that. Haven’t been paying this site much attention lately.

I no longer have that tray of Lilac records. I’ve sorted and reorganised them into the standard format and returned them to the archive. I no longer have access.

The deal is that I get two trays at a time. One car and one bike. I get to choose which make of bike. So far the car make has been Ford. We have them by the million. It’s a monumentally boring task but we can’t move forward with digitising them all until they’re first in proper order. Discussing my findings on here is light relief from a brain sucking mindless activity.

Your member can easily make his own enquiry at the AOMC site, www.aomc.asn.au .The engine number records button is on their front page.

[R]

This line in the instructions sounds more than useful.
Might save someone wasting $90   !!

"If you are not sure whether the vehicle was registered in Victoria prior to 1984
please call us on 03 9558 4829 to determine whether or how to proceed "

[murdo]

Bit of dribble here on the Marusho.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfFF_LvqobE
Bloke I once met in Newcastle NSW has one and it has a little sign on the back that says 'when they wanted a better BMW they made it in Japan'. I know he bought it from an auction place in Brisbane in about 2011. Never heard it run but looked complete.

[R]

Harry Beanham, from Sydney who was mentioned earlier here as having an interest
in Marushos also had a fleet of LE Velocettes.   
Now he had a string of business's in Sydney Melb Adelaide Brisbane.  The story goes that
when he caught the train to visit any of these said business's, he took his LE's numberplates
in his pocket, and attached them to an LE that he kept at each business.
Apparently did this for decades.   Gearco, Allparts, Diecut, etc etc etc were his ...
We diverge.