There are various stories about the carrots. I have a friend who was a BSA employee in the design department in the late sixties. Even in those days, amongst employees, it was unclear why the carrots appeared and then disappeared. One story circulating in the design shop, and related to me earlier this year, is that they are not carrots, but parsnips, etched into the cover in memory of BSA test rider Tony Ilfool. Apparently, when testing a pre-production version of the swinging arm A10 in the autumn of 1953, he was forced off the road by a Triumph test rider on a sprung hub Thunderbird. Apparently, the two riders found themselves on a collision course on a country lane at Catchems Corner (trust me this is a real place - look it up!) near Balsall Common which is about half way between Armoury Road and Meriden. As the story goes, neither rider would give way and our Tony swerved into a field of parsnips and struck the tractor which was being used to pull a trailer on which the newly harvested parsnips were being collected. Sadly, Tony succumbed to his injuries. R.I.P. A.P.R. Ilfool.
