Malvern Star Coronation "Elizabethan"

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Clydesdale Scot
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Re: Malvern Star Coronation "Elizabethan"

Postby Clydesdale Scot » Sun Jan 13, 2013 12:23 pm

trying to add more info on this series, the nonclementure and the associated colours
In 1948 the following Malvern Star advert appeared and the colours were "aglow with soft pastel colours"
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Last edited by Clydesdale Scot on Sun Jan 13, 2013 12:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Malvern Star Coronation "Elizabethan"

Postby Clydesdale Scot » Sun Jan 13, 2013 12:23 pm

It was renamed in 1953 as the 'Coronation' no doubt as the contribution to the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth and the colours were Royal Purple and Gold.
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and zoomed to show the Royal Purple and Gold paint
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Last edited by Clydesdale Scot on Sun Jan 13, 2013 5:40 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Malvern Star Coronation "Elizabethan"

Postby Clydesdale Scot » Sun Jan 13, 2013 12:24 pm

In 1954 it was renamed as the Elizabethan, and a new colour scheme of red white and blue to commemorate the Royal Tour
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Re: Malvern Star Coronation "Elizabethan"

Postby bicyclepassion » Mon Jan 14, 2013 9:30 am

Excellent info! Many thanks.

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Re: Malvern Star Coronation "Elizabethan"

Postby Clydesdale Scot » Sun Apr 21, 2013 1:22 pm

now even earlier!
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"A black and white photograph of Sir Hubert Opperman riding a bicycle, wearing a beret and Knickerbockers. A handwritten note on the back reads 'TRYING OUT / NEW MODEL / CORONATION / Special / 1937'."
source National Museum Australia
What Malvern Star had promoted in 1948 as "the new look in ladies cycles" had, if the inscription on the photo is correct, been developed 11 years earlier.
The announcement of the 1937 Coronation range included the following:

"LADIES' MODELS.
The remainder of the range includes models to suit every type of rider, and takes in particularly striking ladies' models which undoubtedly will do much to further popularise the cycle among the fair sex."

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Re: Malvern Star Coronation "Elizabethan"

Postby Clydesdale Scot » Thu May 02, 2013 6:03 pm

and now a really useful size.
Image

Big thanks to the National Museum of Australia for their quick replies to my requests and the granting permission to use the photo on this forum.
So it seems there was at least one male version of the bike, and it was called a Coronation, but the Coronation was for King George VI's coronation, not Elizabeth II's.

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Re: Malvern Star Coronation "Elizabethan"

Postby bicyclepassion » Thu May 02, 2013 8:43 pm

Great photo. I like what they have done with the front mudguard stays too.
No photo of this model in ladies or gents version in 1938 or 1939 catalogue.
There was a ladies model on Ebay last week, with a 1946 serial number, 6M 3725. It sold for $461.00. Is the buyer reading this? The seller said "I have been told it was built in melbourne in 1956"
It had 3 stars, 1 in each head lug, and 1 in the open head. I have not seen this treatment on any other 'coronation' model.
This is the earliest one I have seen, if serial numbers are anything to go by.
These are the years and quantities I have recorded for these shapely frame over the years. I did not start recording this model until a few years ago. I have seen a lot that I didnt bother to record .
1946 x 1
1947 x 1
1948 x 1
1949 x 2
1950 x 1
1954 x 1
1956 x 1
The 3 stars in the head of the pictured '1937' model are a worry. I have not seen any Malvern Star with more than 2 stars in an open head that was built prior to 1939. (That doesnt mean they didnt make one though, just means I havnt seen one)
Oppy was 33 in 1937, and race and record fit. That looks more like his post war chin and spare tyre to me. But it might be my imagination!
Warren

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Re: Malvern Star Coronation "Elizabethan"

Postby kateg » Wed Nov 13, 2013 8:47 pm

Hi, I am a newby to forum and joined due to Elizabethan information. Have a 1953 which was bought for my Mum (have purchase receipt somewhere) Enjoying finding out more about it, happy to share my piccies also -dear old thing, I love it.

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Re: Malvern Star Coronation "Elizabethan"

Postby Clydesdale Scot » Thu Nov 14, 2013 5:19 pm

kateg wrote:Hi, I am a newby to forum and joined due to Elizabethan information. Have a 1953 which was bought for my Mum (have purchase receipt somewhere) Enjoying finding out more about it, happy to share my piccies also -dear old thing, I love it.
Welcome,
I am very keen to see photos of the bike, and its condition.
And to read of the story that goes with the bike.
Philip

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Re: Malvern Star Coronation "Elizabethan"

Postby Wing Your Heel » Sun Feb 09, 2014 4:46 pm

The bike that Mr Opperman is riding is a Candian CCM Flyte

Image


More details here of this model...

http://www.oldbike.eu/museum/1930s/1936 ... reamlined/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Re: Malvern Star Coronation "Elizabethan"

Postby Clydesdale Scot » Mon Feb 10, 2014 8:45 am

the front fork is different, the down tube is different, the seat stays are different, the guards are different, and given the close association between Opperman and MS, and the three stars on the headtube, my thoughts are with it being as it is described, subject to Warren's concerns with the date for reasons he set out above.

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Re: Malvern Star Coronation "Elizabethan"

Postby Wing Your Heel » Mon Feb 10, 2014 9:09 am

It's obviously not the identical bike to the 1936 model Flyte pictured. But this is a unique design covered by patents and is the result of a big buck design exercise, inspired by the American Flocycle. Bruce Small did not have those design resources, so he must have used their patents. Is it in a MS catalogue?

I've written to the museum to ask what they know about it. If anyone else knows its back story I'd be very interested to hear

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Re: Malvern Star Coronation "Elizabethan"

Postby bicyclepassion » Mon Feb 10, 2014 1:06 pm

I have a similiar photo of opperman on that bike in a kids story book, called, 'The Boy' Annual for 1946-7. One of those books that kids got for Christmas back then. This supports my theory that the museum photo was taken later than 1937. Why would they use a 9 year old photo of Oppy in this book, when there were hundreds of current photos of him available. I reiterate, that is not oppy's 1937 face or body, in that photo. Check other photos of him post war. Dont come too far forward though, as he was in a pretty good paddock once he got into federal parliament.

The CCM bike is nothing like the Malvern Star. No patents breached there, some visual cues maybe, some inspiration derived from, maybe. No structural principles copied. The CCM is unique. The Malvern Star is a pretty standard frame really, with some curvy bits added.

Warren

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Re: Malvern Star Coronation "Elizabethan"

Postby rkelsen » Mon Feb 10, 2014 5:08 pm

Wing Your Heel wrote:It's obviously not the identical bike to the 1936 model Flyte pictured. But this is a unique design covered by patents and is the result of a big buck design exercise, inspired by the American Flocycle. Bruce Small did not have those design resources, so he must have used their patents. Is it in a MS catalogue?
Yes, there are even pictures of Malvern's ads posted in this very thread.

Clean your glasses and take another look at the bike in the picture, versus the bike in your picture.

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Re: Malvern Star Coronation "Elizabethan"

Postby Clydesdale Scot » Mon Feb 10, 2014 7:42 pm

Bruce Small thought much of his company's design when it was released in August 1948
There was a strong marketing campaign around Australia in early August 1948.
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Northern Argus (Clare, SA : 1869 - 1954), Thursday 5 August 1948, page 6
and that the design was BETTER than other streamlined bikes from North America.
Image
Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW : 1888 - 1954), Wednesday 4 August 1948, page 6
Image

which all points strongly to the Oppy photo being taken not in 1937 but 1948 as Warren has reasoned.

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Re: Malvern Star Coronation "Elizabethan"

Postby bicyclepassion » Tue Feb 11, 2014 2:17 pm

Great research, and very much appreciated.
Just clarifying that the picture of oppy on a 'gents' version of the curvy frame, appeared in 'The Boy' annual, published, as far as I can gather, for Christmas 1946. I am surmising that the photo was taken sometime earlier that year. Wartime photos of Oppy on bikes he was pictured in uniform.
We can also surmise, that the gents version was a prototype.
(I have 1970 Skidstar GT, with Elizabethen/Coronation forks, that makes a pretty good approximation of a gents version, and have seen a cobbled together roughly, later creation, in the Farren collection.)
Warren

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Re: Malvern Star Coronation "Elizabethan"

Postby The Fixer » Tue Feb 11, 2014 4:17 pm

One of the most horrible-looking bicycles ever made, and they weren't very nice to ride either.

Loved the original 'Royal' paintwork tho.

Might do my '81 Apollo II in that colour. Much better bike, too.
I don't care if it's a $20 Huffy or a $20k Colnago, as long as you're riding, and you're happy.

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Malvern Star Coronation "Elizabethan"

Postby find_bruce » Sat Feb 15, 2014 6:47 pm

A coronation currently for sale on fleabay

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Re: Malvern Star Coronation

Postby Clydesdale Scot » Sat Feb 15, 2014 6:53 pm

find_bruce wrote:A coronation currently for sale on fleabay
The Fixer will be odds on to pick up that beauty!

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Re: Malvern Star Coronation "Elizabethan"

Postby Clydesdale Scot » Tue Apr 29, 2014 9:22 pm

From the Dec2013 For Sale Catalogue attached to the final Canberra Classics Cycles ebulletin of April 2014
Image
an "All complete, accurate and mint condition" version in the 1953 Coronation paint colours.
Finally the reference photograph for the 1953 builds.

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Re: Malvern Star Coronation "Elizabethan"

Postby Wing Your Heel » Sun Aug 10, 2014 5:39 pm

Is there a logic to the fitting of the different mudguard stays? eg do the early ones have the wobbly ones and the later models the straight stays?

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Re: Malvern Star Coronation "Elizabethan"

Postby Clydesdale Scot » Sun Aug 10, 2014 6:46 pm

Colin,
:shock: Wobbly ones!
so you are not a copywriter.

The "New Look" was launched in 1948 with the curved mudguard stays to echo the graceful lines found on the frame and forks.
The copywriter of the 1948 advertisement manages to describe the design without any mention of "wobbly".
The "New Look" now tagged as a "Streamlyne"[sic] with the graceful curved mudguard stays was still being advertised in November 1950.

so what is your project?

and thank you for your online museum

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Re: Malvern Star Coronation "Elizabethan"

Postby Wing Your Heel » Sun Aug 10, 2014 10:27 pm

Hello Philip,
Point taken; wobbly is how they might turn out if I try to curve bits of wire for the Coronation's stays. Besides, with all the previous jibes on this thread, I wanted to avoid mentioning that there was an option of either straight or bent.
Thanks for clarifying; I thought that was probably the case, i.e. early curved and later straight stays.

I bought one from Australian ebay in February 2014 (commented on by you in this thread). It's in original unrestored condition with transfers just about still showing. But it came with odd mudguards, one white and one black, and it's been impossible to find another 28" white one. Such a thing appears to be unique to Australia! So I'm eventually fitting a pair of chrome mudguards from an American bike. Just have to find a chainguard to match.
The bike is green with pin striping. Not a particularly nice colour when faded. More than most other bikes, this model particularly deserves to be restored and shiny, but I was interested in illustrating the pin striping on it.
I'll add pics when it's done. I'll take some photos of it next to the Canadian Flyte for comparison, and another of it paired with the gent's 5 Star.
Colin

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Re: Malvern Star Coronation "Elizabethan"

Postby Clydesdale Scot » Sun Aug 10, 2014 10:33 pm

and its serial number?

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Re: Malvern Star Coronation "Elizabethan"

Postby Wing Your Heel » Sun Aug 10, 2014 10:59 pm

Not checked it yet

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