Rescued documents that highlight the colourful history of Birmingham-based BSA Tools Ltd (
www.bsa-tools.co.uk) — an iconic brands that is currently enjoying a resurgence of interest because of its links to the BBC series Peaky Blinders — show that fact is often stranger than fiction.
Throughout the series, now in its fifth season, there are references to BSA, from which the gangsters steal arms to fund their criminal activities.
BSA Tools owner Paul Eyles, who bought the business in 2017, preserved a host of abandoned documents, handing many of them to local motor museums while keeping others in the company’s safe, including correspondence relating to the Matrix Churchill affair — the so-called ‘Arms to Iraq’ scandal — in the 1990s.
Other documents reveal the larger-than-life character of former BSA chairman Sir Bernard Docker, who had a penchant for the high life, with his personal fleet of Daimlers trimmed in gold rather than chrome.
Also found were the minutes of Lanchester Motor Co Ltd AGMs from 1906 to 1961. This company was owned by
BSA before being sold to Jaguar in 1960, and these documents have been donated to the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust.
Joanna Shortland, head archivist at the Trust, said: “Receiving the Lanchester Motor Co minutes has shone new light on a history that would otherwise have been lost.
“We are very grateful to the new owners of BSA for this fascinating glimpse into an important period of our industrial heritage.”