Fiats, Panhards, and the Stinkwheel Story

By Pete Vack and David Beare

First the name; we have to explain the name for those of us unfamiliar with British jargon. “The name Stinkwheel derives from 1930’s slang amongst motorcyclists for small-capacity, feeble two-stoke powered cyclemotors and autocycles which buzzed noisily but slowly around in a cloud of blue oily smoke- a stinkwheel,” writes Beare. His first two books were histories of such cyclemotors- “The Stinkwheel Sagas.” Thus came the name of the publishing company, which is at the very least, unforgettable. How Stinkwheel went from cyclemotors to Hispano Suiza is another good question.

“Our next book, published in 2012, was on post-war Panhard cars, technically fascinating but commercially unsuccessful in Britain and now almost unknown,” said Beare. One might think of the Panhards as a four-wheel equivalent of the stinkwheel, with their noisy four stroke engines. Then Beare got inspired to do another history of a car publishers often ignore. “Hispano-Suiza and Pegaso, Birkigt and Ricart, two men, two marques made in Spain”, Volume 1 covered Hispano, and Volume 2, “Pegaso and Ricart, From Hispano-Suiza to Pegaso; trucks, buses and sportscars” was published in 2017 to address Pegaso, and has already been reprinted once. “It is, to my knowledge, the only book to date dedicated to the Pegaso marque in English. I drew on many works in Spanish, Italian and French languages for source material and historical information not normally accessible to English-only readers, in the hope of providing a fresh viewpoint and accurate data.” Today, Beare is still near the end of a significant three volume history of Fiat, a brand which caught his attention while living in Spain.

In most cases, Beare books are out of the realm of interest of other publishers, particularly mainstream presses. “Stinkwheel Publishing was founded in 2004 out of frustration with commercial publishers of historical works on cyclemotors, motorcycles, cars, tractors etc. None were interested or wanted to publish niche books for a limited market on fascinating but outside of mainstream subjects, and with print runs of less than 1,000 copies,” writes Beare. “Our average print run now is 200-300 copies per title as it is possible these days to print-on-demand (POD) small runs on digital presses.” He adds that computers and software have reached a level of sophistication, speed and affordability where it is possible to write text, design layouts, embed images on pages and produce print-quality PDFs from an ordinary home PC, ready for printing. “We have achieved this and made well-researched, readable books more affordable. With new digital printing technology available I can now include colour images distributed throughout the text, previously impossible due to costly litho-plates having to be made.”

But Beare is not only a publisher, he is the author of all eight books currently in his inventory. Most would be hard pressed simply to fulfill the work of a publisher. Beare does it all.

If it sounds like a lot of work, it is. But Beare is up to the job. Born 1947 in Oxford, England, Beare went to school in Oxford until 1960, when his family moved to Geneva in Switzerland. And like many of us, interest in motorcycles and cars was familial. His father, Louis Beare, had been appointed CEO of BMC Europe S.A., based in Geneva and responsible for distribution of BMC cars and later British Leyland vehicles throughout the Continent. “Stationed, as it were, in Switzerland, I was a student at the International School in Geneva (Ecolint) until 1965, studying English & History to advanced level.”

During school holidays, Beare searched scrapyards to save old motorcycles. “I got a taste for two-wheelers that has never left me. Then, I learned engineering the ‘old school’ way as an apprentice, working on old cars and in modern dealerships until 1969.” Spain beckoned (“It seemed like a good idea at the time.”) and he went to live in Andalucia to restore old Spanish motorcycles like Bultaco, Ossa and Mototrans Ducati. He stayed until 1980.

Now a world-resident, Beare returned to Oxfordshire to work restoring vintage car and motorcycles, running his own classic car business and exporting British sports and exotic cars all over Europe. “That’s when being fluent in French and Spanish really came in handy,” he said.”

His partner and collaborator with the Stinkwheel Saga, Philippa Wheeler, was born 1940 in Birmingham, heart of the British motorcycle industry. Many workers in factories rode bicycles with a small motor (cyclemotors) attached, so the smell of two-stroke smoke was one of Philippa’s early memories and influenced her life thereafter. Always a keen cyclist, she joined the Royal Air Force, which meant much cycling around RAF airfields. She soon added various cyclemotor engines to her bicycles and could effortlessly travel far and wide. Proper motorcycles followed; Nortons, Triumphs, a hefty Ariel Square-Four, and an Ariel Red Hunter. Philippa decided to go racing, entering her Manx Norton in amateur races including on the Isle of Man TT circuit, because she’d always wanted to do so. Philippa collected and rode a large number of cyclemotors and continued to be an avid cyclist, competing in velodrome races and road outings with the Veteran Cycle Club. She has so many great memories to enjoy of a life spent largely on two wheels. Philippa was co-author of the first two Stinkwheel books, acting as technical/historical consultant and wrote some of the text, including what to expect when dismantling a Ducati Cucciolo engine & gearbox. And this is not for the faint-hearted! Her profound knowledge of motorcycle history was invaluable.

Beare retired to a hill-farm in Wales in 2002. “I took up writing about classic motorcycles, cars and tractors rather than constantly working restoring them, which was affecting my health. I still live in Wales, have a great time with Stinkwheel, and still ride absurdly-underpowered cyclemotors and small motorcycles on rallies around Europe, for fun.”

https://stinkwheel.co.uk/publications/