Gus was ahead of his time

Gus Da Silva is the man in the cap on the passenger side of the left hand vehicle, (in previous picture), which appears to be some sort of delivery vehicle with a roof rack, the visible registration number of which is LR 544.

Gus originally came from Portugal and set up the garage around 1929 but unfortunately, there are no signs of it today and eventually he moved to Cirencester where he set up his workshop in the Avenue as a self-employed engineer.

Whilst the previous picture is rather traditional for its time, this inset picture gives a hint of the advanced thinking of Gus, who was said to be a man ahead of his time. It shows him standing by his unique motorcycle in the 1930’s.

As early as 1932, he designed this cycle with its aluminium body, the news of which reached the local and national press. It was entered in the Cirencester carnival under the title Car Manufacturers of Tomorrow.

Today we take aluminium for granted in everything from door handles to saucepans. However, it was not until WWII that major advances in its use were made, particularly in aircraft production.

It is strange to think that aluminium is the earth’s third most abundant element making up eight percent the earths crust. However as it never occurs naturally in a metallic form, but combines with most rocks, clay, soil and even vegetation, it remained in obscurity until its discovery by English chemist Sir Humphrey Davy in 1807.

Ancient Middle Eastern civilisations had used aluminium salts for dyes and medicines and even today, they can be found in indigestion tablets and toothpaste. There was even a time when wealthy rulers would impress their guests by showing off aluminium plates and cutlery in preference to gold.

From Davy onwards various extraction methods were developed, but it was at the end of the 19th century with the development of production based on the use of electricity that it could be produced in commercial quantities.

The subsequent reduction in its monetary value gave scope for this light, strong, anti-corrosive, versatile metal to signal its potential.

However, it was many years before this potential could be realised as working the metal required skilled, specialist knowledge, particularly in moulding and welding.

It was this knowledge and these skills which Gus Da Silva possessed and utilised in the designing of his aluminium motorcycle.

It is, however, typical of such pioneers that he never exploited his ideas, but was just satisfied to achieve his goal.