Rex-Acme were formed in 1922 when the Rex Motor Manufacturing Co. and Acme Motor Co. collaborated. A range of motorcycles were offered throughout the 1920s that used both in-house-built, and proprietary engines from the likes of J.A.P, Villiers and Blackburne.
Rex-Acme were a small factory, with big determination, and it did not take long for them to make a dent on the competition scene. In 1923 the firm signed rising star Walter Handley, a move that would set Rex-Acme on the road to racing success. In a short space of time, Handley was on the leader boards, notably the 1925 Isle of Man TT, when he became the first rider to win two TTs in one week – the 350 Junior and 175 Ultra-Lightweight.
Handley continued to break records, and in 1927, returned to the TT on a machine similar to the one pictured – a 1927 TT 350 Rex-Acme (at the National Motor Museum, Birdwood, South Australia). The handsome bike featured a 350cc overhead-valve Blackburne – an engine that was renowned for being fast and robust, belying the delicate appearance. It did the job, and Handley was famed for being impassable, helped of course by the punchy Blackburne and the nimble set-up produced by the talented people inside the Rex-Acme factory.
The below is a video of the 1925 Isle of Man TT Junior, won by the 22-year-old Birmingham rider Handley who raced his Blackburne-engined Rex-Acme over the six laps at an average speed of 65.02mph. The Motor Cycle noted that in the Junior, Handley “punished his engine unmercifully. He would rush up to a corner, cut out, crash on his brakes, then off with the brakes and let in full engine with a bang!”. It was a testament to the robustness of the Blackburne engine that sustained such abuse around the circuit, and no wonder that the Rex was a popular mount when released to the public.
Thank you to John Grove for the photos that were taken at the National Motor Museum in South Australia.
an article by The Girder Club
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