Just copied this from Facebook.
Lance Lovell: During the first world war most of the British motorcycle manufacturers made weapons for the armed services,After that war the government dropped all the sub-contractors and built a factory to produce their own guns etc.As a result when the bike factories started building bikes again ,they all scrapped the gun making machinery.But not BSA-the directors built an expensive warehouse to store it all,and continued to make small amounts of arms,rifles etc,without telling anyone.A lot of shareholders questioned the unnecessary expense but the directors would not budge.In the mid-Thirties the BSA sales executive for Europe reported to the board that,in his view,the Germans were rearming and there was another war on the horizon.The board decided to start secretly mass-producing firearms again,with no customer to buy them and without the Government knowing.They also designed and started to produce the BSA Scout car.When it finally dawned on the politicians that war with Germany was imminent,they started panicking and asked motor/bike manufacturers to urgently tender for making a large number of small arms .BSAs response was,"Certainly Sir,how many does Sir require?",and to the amazement and shock of the Government fulfilled the order from STOCK!.There are many reasons to be proud of BSA Motorcycles Ltd,not just the ones directly related to the bikes...
