The First Ever Velocette Viper

There has been a motorbike parked in The Classic Lounge for a little while now. I see it every day and always appreciate what a good-looking bike it is, but until I was told the story behind it, I didn’t realise quite how special it truly is.

This is SOP 367, our 1955 Velocette Viper. This isn’t just any Viper, though; this is the first Viper sold to go on the road and the original press vehicle for the model’s launch.

An Immediate Star

In April 1956, Motor Cycling magazine ran a road test on a brand-new Velocette model. The Viper. This was a 349cc single that promised touring practicality and sports bike performance. In 1956, this was not something you heard very often.

The article that came from the road test described the bike as “a high-performance single” capable of 92mph, with average figures just under 91mph. It also had an average of 85 – 90 mpg, so it certainly made a good first impression.

The bike that was road tested in the magazine in 1956 was this exact one. In the images from the article, the registration is clearly visible and is SOP 367.

Press Bike

SOP 367 was part of Velocette’s official press fleet. It was factory-prepped for journalists to test, photograph and write about.

The original logbook lists Veloce Ltd as its first owner. Frame number RS7879 and engine number 1002 place it right at the beginning of Viper production. According to Velocette expert Raynor J Thurston, this is very likely the first Viper ever sold for road use.

That view is supported by the Velocette Owners Club. In 2017, Colin Goodwyn, the VOC Archivist, confirmed that SOP 367 matches the test bike’s description from Motor Cycling’s 1956 road test. This has now been recorded in their records.

The engine of our Viper also backs up the story the paperwork tells. When Aspire Classics dismantled the engine during a recent refurbishment, they found a high-compression piston and high-lift cams inside. These weren’t standard issue, and as it’s widely accepted that Velocette tweaked press bikes to show them at their best, it further supports the incredible origin story of SOP 367.

Private Ownership

SOP 367 went on to pass through several well-documented owners, including Frank Melling, the motorcycle journalist, author, and experienced racer.

It was taken off the road in the 1980s and eventually purchased by a previous owner in 2010. Since then, it’s been sympathetically restored to show-standard condition by Aspire Classics. The brief was to keep it original, honest, and allow its history to tell its story.

A History Recorded

Alongside the bike, a substantial file of documents and period material tells its story in a huge amount of detail. These include:

• The original buff logbook and current V5C
• Copies of the 1956 Motor Cycling road test
• Letters from Velocette historians and the VOC
• Manuals, press releases, and restoration records
• HPI report
• Invoices, receipts, and ownership documentation

All of this suggests that SOP 367 is the first road-going Viper, the factory press bike, and the machine that introduced the world to what the Viper could really do. After coming out of the factory at the beginning of its life and going straight into the public eye, it deserves to be back there once again.

This is the start of that happening!