It amazes me as to how popular the Lyta petrol tank is, yet you'll almost never see one, yet alone find one for sale. And trust me, I've been looking. To my eyes, this tank is pure beauty. It's curvaceous, but built for a very simple function. How can something perform such a simple task, yet look so stunning while doing so? I suppose that at the end of the day, the petrol tank on any motorbike is sort of the crowning jewel. It'll likely be the first thing you notice when looking at any vintage bike, so it's importance is not just in it's function, but in it's presence.
The photo below is one that I've saved for a while now, and it's originally from a Bonham's auction from several years ago. I don't recall the exact selling price, but it was reasonable. Three hundred dollars or so. If only I would have known it was for sale...
It's known as the "short circuit" tank. Named simply after it's function, of being a smaller petrol tank for shorter circuits that didn't require the larger / original 5 gallon tank. It holds 3 1/2 gallons, and was almost always fitted to Manx Nortons, or wideline featherbed Dominators. And while it doesn't look like this tank, Lyta also infamously made a tank for the BSA Goldstar.
The funny thing about all this, is that you'll definitely see "copies" of this tank for sale, on ebay and other sites, almost any day of the week. I use the quotation marks because while they're always listed as replica Lyta tanks, they bare little, to no resemblance to the real thing. I suppose that's to be expected, since I can't imagine that many people have an original tank to actually replicate from. Perhaps to the untrained eye, it's the same, but in reality, it sure isn't. The lines on all the copies, are always wrong, the proportions wrong and almost always, the filler cap is on the incorrect side. How someone could get that detail wrong, is beyond me. Maybe I'm too picky. Maybe I'm some purist snob. Maybe in reality, an alloy fuel tank, is just an alloy fuel tank. Maybe the details don't matter much. Maybe if it holds 3 1/2 gallons of fuel like the original, that's good enough. And hey, you can always buy one of the reproduction Lyta tank decals on ebay UK for about ten bucks.
All things considered, I'd personally rather have nothing, than something that's fake. To me, it's pointless. I suppose these replica tanks serve a vital purpose, because in reality, there's not enough of these real tanks, for everyone that wants one, to actually have one.
So here's just a fairly useless post to highlight one of the most beautiful petrol tanks in history. Or, at least that's my opinion. If anyone out there, happens to stumble across this post, and you've got one of these original tanks, please contact me. I've got a Norton project sitting here in need of one. I'd gladly pay a fair price. Or even if you have one, and it's not for sale, I'd love to just get some information about the details of the tank. I'd love to see more photos and learn more about it.
It's a long shot, I know. But you never know. So, my email is works.moto@gmail.com
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