This 1914 Flanders Model B is an extremely rare piece of American pioneer motorcycle history as one of two Model Bs known to exist from this important American company. The Model B and its sister model, the Flanders 4, are named for their 4 HP/495cc single-cylinder F-head engine, produced by the Walter E. Flanders engineering company, which, prior to producing motorcycles, did contract work for Henry Ford. In 1907, Ford brought Walter Flanders to Detroit, where he helped develop Ford’s radical mass-production techniques and was paid very well, with bonuses—perhaps too well, as Flanders left Ford to start his own automobile company, E-M-F, with Bernard Everitt and William Metzger, opening a factory in Pontiac, Michigan, to build the Flanders car, which first rolled out in 1910. In October 1910, Flanders also founded the Pontiac Motorcycle Company to use mass-production methods for two- wheel manufacturing. Both car and motorcycle companies were combined that year as the Flanders Manufacturing Company. The first Flanders motorcycle debuted in 1911, featuring a 4 HP (485cc) single-cylinder motor with automatic inlet valve (AIV), a magneto ignition and a simple belt drive with no clutch. The engine was handsome and a clean, attractive design, while the front fork featured compression and rebound springing, a 270-pound weight and 45 MPH top speed. The Flanders sold for $165, with a one-year guarantee on workmanship, to cement its place as an “everyman” motorcycle, affordable to “any man making $3 a day,” as their advertising claimed, adding “the only cheaper transportation is a sailboat.” The factory, located in a suburb of Chelsea, Michigan, was large and spacious, and Flanders ads claimed it was the largest motorcycle factory in the world, with a test track on the property. Two years later, Studebaker purchased the automotive side of the Flanders Mfr Co, and motorcycle production moved to Detroit in 1913, under the Motor Products Company, which planned to sell motorcycles via mail order. This ultra-rare 1914 Flanders Model B underwent a recently completed 27-year restoration project and is in excellent and correct condition. S103 1914 FLANDERS MODEL B
