Ariel Square Four motor cycle, 1959

Part of the era of heavy luxurious touring motorcycles. First produced in 1931, the Square Four was the first of the four-cylinder motorcycles to earn and keep a substantial market; however due to a fall in demand, production ceased in 1959. It joins the ranks of those other British touring motorcycles of the past, the Brough-Superior, the Sunbeam and the Vincent.

This type of motorcycle would have cost nearly as much as a small light car and with a 1-litre engine and 100mph performance the ‘Squariel’, as it became known, was a ‘superbike’ of its day.