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301Louis Vuitton Classic Concours Winner1938 Ariel 997cc Square fourRegistration no. XVS 646Frame no. P1008Engine no. DE225Edward Turner, relatively unknown at this time but later to becomeone of the giants of the British motorcycle industry, designed theoriginal Square Four engine. His novel four cylinder 500cc overheadcam engine layout offered a number of advantages: it was extremelysmooth, its compact dimensions allowed it to be fitted in the frame ofthe current Ariel 500cc single, and it allowed the use of conventionalchain drive. The Square Four was one of the sensations of the 1930Olympia Show. Subsequently it was enlarged to 600cc, but by themiddle of the decade Ariels recognized that a more radical change wasrequired. On the eve of the 1935 Show they revealed the new 1000ccSquare Four.This was an entirely new design by Turner which featured manychanges including duralumin pushrod operated valve gear, verticallysplit crankcases with dry sump oiling, one piece crankshafts, lightalloy conrods, white metal plain bearings, and a rear mountedSolex carburettor. There were some development issues relatingto lubrication of the valve gear and production commenced onlyin September 1936. The fantastic flexibility of the new engine wasdemonstrated by Freddie Clarke who rode a prototype 1000cc SquareFour to Brooklands and there ran “ten mph to a hundred in top”.Today there is nothing remotely unusual about a four cylindermotorcycle, but in the 1930s a motorcycle powered by four cylinderswas true exotica. Only one such machine was exhibited at the 1937Olympia Show: the Ariel Square Four, which “attracted an immenseamount of attention” according to “The Motor Cycle”. Ownershipof one of these “superbikes”, over thirty years before the term wascoined, set the rider apart from his fellow motorcyclists who weremostly still aboard singles. If the Brough Superior was the Rolls Royceof motorcycles, then surely the Ariel Square Four was the Bentley.This particular Square Four was awarded one of the concours world’sultimate accolades when it scooped first prize in the Louis VuittonClassic Concours at the Hurlingham Club in 1999. Proving thatthis was no fluke, a few years later, in 2008 it won the Square Fourcategory at the Ariel Owners Club annual rally concours. The vendor,a pre-war Square Four expert, has owned this machine, nicknamed“Andromeda”, for over twenty years. It is reluctantly offered for salefollowing the recent death of his mother. The sale of the parental homehas resulted in a loss of storage space requiring a thinning out of hiscollection. Parting with it is slightly more bearable because he owns asecond 1938 example, in similarly immaculate condition.86 | the spring stafford sale