A WICKER basket sidecar created in 1900 attached to a rare Bromsgrove-built Banshee motorbike is the latest completed exhibit at the Norton Collection Museum.
Dennis Norton, who compiled the collection and gifted it to Bromsgrove, is believed to have the only two remaining Banshee motorcycles in the country and since acquiring the wicker sidecar, which is even rarer, he has wanted to attach it to one of the bikes.
Then six months ago Dennis was alerted to the sale of a special chassis which would fit the bike so he bought it and now, after painstaking work to fit the two together, it is ready for public display.
Dennis said: “I have to say it’s one of the best exhibits I have ever seen.
“I had heard about the wicker basket sidecars but had never seen one in real life until I found this one.”
Most sidecars were made of wood – the museum has one of those as well – before metal became the material of choice.
The museum is currently closed but will hopefully reopen in the coming weeks.
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