Egli-Vincent Engine numbers

Egli-Vincent Engine numbers are an addition to the H.R.D. Vincent engine numbers.

The numbers are usually stamped just above the regular Vincent engine numbers.

This page is here to help with identifying an Egli-Vincent motorcycle and should be used in conjunction with a page that I have written on dating H.R.D. or Vincent motorcycles by frame & engine numbers .

What is an Egli-Vincent motorcycle?

A gentleman by the name of Fritz Egli decided to use Vincent engines in his frame design. The Egli-Vincent is originally a Swiss machine.

In 1965, Fritz raced a Vincent Rapide in the Swiss hill climb championship. During 1965 and 1966, Fritz continually modified his Vincent in the hope of making it competitive against the Manx Nortons. After considerable tweaking, he realised that the Vincent frame was unlikely to be competitive. So, he decided to make his own frame that would work with the excellent V-Twin 998cc Vincent engine.

He began this new venture in the winter of 1966 / 67 and spent much of 1967 developing his new design. His effort paid off when his design won the championship in 1968. More championship wins for the Egli Vincent design followed in 1969, 70 and 71.

Fritz Egli produced only a handful of his design. Most of the Egli production was done by Roger Slater in the UK. The Egli-Vincent bore some similarity to the regular Vincent Black Shadow / Rapide. The frame was a different design and the petrol tank was a “banana” shape in profile. The shape of the fuel tank is the most obvious clue that you are looking at an Egli-Vincent. They altered the fuel tank design later, so that it was a little more conventional.

However, you need to look at the Egli-Vincent Engine numbers, together with numbers stamped on the upper & rear frame sections.

Apparently, Roger Slater did not keep records. Fritz Egli did create some limited records.

There are clues as to whether the machine is a UK Slater Egli-Vincent, or an early Swiss Fritz Egli-Vincent.

All of Fritz’s frames were built with metric tubing. Just about all of the Slater built frames were imperial tubing. However, Fritz Egli supplied frames to Slater Bros for a few years until they got Eric Cheney to build frames in England.

Consequently, many of the early Slater Eglis had metric frames built by Fritz with Slater engines. It was just as likely that a Slater Egli would be sold as a kit with frame and accessories only. The purchaser would install his own engine.

How to decode Egli-Vincent Engine numbers

Sometime back, an Egli Vincent was sold at auction. There were some doubts about the published numbers. The number (stamped above the regular engine number) was EV13AL. The standard format Vincent engine number was F10/AB/1/1821.

Let’s deal with the regular Vincent engine number:F10/AB/1/1821

“1821” is the unique sequential number. Contact the Vincent Owner’s Club and they will help you to put a date on the machine by checking the factory records. The rest of the engine number tells us what the engine is and which machine(s) it was supplied for.

F = Four Stroke

10 = 1000cc

A = Ali cases

B = Bicycle (as opposed to Marine or Utility)

/1 = B or C series Vincent Rapide.

Now that we have the basic engine information, we can combine it with the Egli-Vincent engine numbers to complete the picture.

A Fritz Egli built engine had his own “EV” engine number stamped on the case. Most Roger Slater engines would have an engine number that started with “RS”.

Important: Because many of the Slater Eglis (and some of the Fritz Eglis) were frame only kits, you cannot rely on there being a special EV or RS engine number on every bike.

Fritz seemed to stamp all the engines he built with or without frames, so the engine numbers were much higher than the frame numbers. Fritz stopped building Egli Vincents in 1969. This was only the second year of production. The models he sold were called “Shadow” “Lightning” and “Lightning R”.

It’s “heresay”, but I understand that Fritz Egli was struggling to get a regular supply of new Vincent engines. UK-based Roger Slater had been supplying engines to him. They obviously had a business relationship, so Fritz licenced Roger Slater to build Egli-Vincents.

The Egli-Vincent models

There were three models of Fritz Egli-Vincent motorcycles. (Roger Slater created the Shadow 70 and offered just two models- Shadow 70 and Rapide)

When looking at Egli-Vincent Engine numbers, you need to bear in mind that the stamps EV or RS were just an indication. In some cases, both Fritz Egli and Roger Slater just supplied a frame, or engine only.

The best policy is to join the Vincent Motorcycle Owner’s Club and the Registrar will cross-check your numbers with the records.