Who's that girl? Why we want to know

Who's that girl on the Royal Enfield?

 A Reddit post in India recently attracted a lot of ridicule. It was a post from a college student, writing admiringly of the motorcycling skills of a woman he regularly sees on a Royal Enfield Hunter 350. 

Here's a bit of what he posted: 

"Almost every weekday morning, while rushing to college, I end up seeing a girl on a Royal Enfield Hunter riding along the same route. 

"First of all, massive respect. You’re genuinely one of the smoothest riders I’ve seen on Bangalore roads. Your lane discipline, confidence, and control are seriously impressive. There have been days when even experienced riders would struggle to keep up with your pace through traffic. 

"I’ve thought about saying hi a few times, but you’re clearly on your commute and always seem to be in a hurry. Plus, stopping someone mid-ride or at a signal feels awkward and intrusive, so I never did. 

"On the tiny chance you’re on Reddit and this sounds like you: hi! I’m the guy who probably ends up somewhere behind you most mornings on the same route."

Readers laughed at the writer for being either ridiculously shy, or a stalker. Just maybe, they suggested, he was more interested in her appearance than her riding skill.

One comment regretted that there is no emoji insulting enough to apply to the original writer.

Personally, I think he was wise to keep his distance. There's no way to meet gracefully in traffic, and following her to her destination is absolutely out.

But as for admiring from afar? I think that is just the way we are built.

A man who knew something about the importance of happiness once advised me to "look at the pretty girls." He meant that people are intended to be joyful.

But there are limits. One comment asked why the original writer would be surprised that a woman is a skilled motorcyclist. Fair point. Except I don't think that is the case he is making.

Women motorcyclists, aviators, and athletes will always attract attention. There are men who do these things just as well or better. Is that equal?

Yes, it is. On the other side of the coin, women who ride (or drive) poorly typically are criticized MORE than men who ride just as badly.

The difference is that we are paying special attention to women. That's the issue.

It has come up for me because, here on this blog, I have done a number of items that ask, in effect, "Who's that girl?" Obviously, this betrays a special interest on my part.

Here's a partial list. Have I gone too far"

Who was the girl in the Royal Enfield ads? — A pretty girl appears in a series of patriotic wartime advertisements. I think I know who she was.

Wren on a motorcycle — The name of the young dispatch rider for the Admiralty was a military secret. Now we know her.

The Lady on the Lawn and Royal Enfield — Posing to advertise the 1931 Royal Enfields.

Racy Royal Enfield poster sold speed — A fast motorcycle with a young woman riding pillion, and she's not the least afraid.

More racy Royal Enfield artwork from 1930 — Now we know the name of the artist. But who was that woman?

The girl who launched a Royal Enfield — I got to meet the woman whose swimsuit pose on a Royal Enfield Interceptor inspired the Interceptor of today.

A Wild Irish Girl on a motorcycle — She's fictional, but certainly the definitive image of the damsel in flight on two wheels.

The sexy 'Avengers' motorcycle a rare Royal Enfield? — Actress Honor Blackman, in leathers, astride an unusual Royal Enfield.

One woman's story of riding for Britain in World War II — She told the BBC her story, but her daughter found the part they left out.

Girl in Royal Enfield ad revealed more than she knew — What was behind the young woman in short shorts draped across a Royal Enfield Interceptor?

Now we know the name of the Royal Enfield Girl — The woman in that Interceptor ad.

Gasoline gypsy Peggy Iris Thomas took A ride in the Sun — Applying lipstick in the rearview mirror of a motorcycle was always bound to attract attention.

Can you help him find a Flying Flea for his mother? — She rode one to high school; now a son wanted to make a memory come alive. I don't know if he ever succeeded.

She rides a Royal Enfield fit for Tank Girl — Seeking the Royal Enfield rider who goes by "Tank Girl."

Happy Valentines from the Enfield Girl — She's not just a cartoon. She was a real woman, painted by a noted artist who specialized in "calendar girls."

Now we know the name of the Royal Enfield Girl

Pretty model posed on a 1970 Interceptor in Royal Enfield ad.

She was 25 in 1969, a pretty girl in the office who had done some modeling, and she was willing to add her appeal to a shiny 1970 Royal Enfield Interceptor motorcycle. The setting was a  storage room in the Shipping Department, with crated Interceptors in the background.

The resulting low-budget, black-and-white advertisement would pit her against the professional models who posed in glossy full-color studio shots for Norton motorcycles. The Norton girls would be displayed wearing nothing like riding gear, with advertising copy that implied their favors would accompany your new motorcycle.

In contrast, the Royal Enfield Girl donned a helmet! The ad copy didn't even mention her. As the headline put it, "We Only Supply the Bike..." The ad rhapsodized about torque, reliability and the oil cooler. Get your own girl.

Hot pants, go-go boots and all, the Royal Enfield Girl sweetened the ad with her genuine smile. She looked like the girl next door. Now we know her name.

On May 9, 2020 the following Comment appeared on a blog item I'd done about the ad:

"Hi, My name is Niki Ryan, I am the daughter of the model 'We only supply the bike'! My friend just found this post and forwarded it to me. Her name was not Marlene Moore — it is Elen Moore (Elenora Moore). It is so wonderful to see this and has made me quite emotional. Mum was a wonderful, kind and beautiful woman, loved by everyone that met her. Thank you for remembering my lovely mum — the original Royal Enfield Girl!"

That correction enabled Interceptor enthusiast Chris Overton to find Mrs. Moore's obituary. She died April 1, 2012. Arrangements were by a funeral home in Bradford-on-Avon, not far from the Westwood factory storage room where her photo was taken.

If you worked for Royal Enfield back then, she was, indeed, the girl next door.

How the Enfield Girl got me in trouble with my wife

The Enfield Girl has always been a favorite of mine,
perhaps for obvious reasons.

I've always called her "the Enfield Girl."

Her appearance as the artwork in an advertisement for a cafe racer kit available for the Royal Enfield Bullet was a favorite of mine. Others liked it too. At one point it was even available as a poster.

This was early in the 21st Century, before Royal Enfield brought out its factory built cafe racer, the Continental GT, in 2014. The racer kit filled a need back then. It certainly looked the part, and to my eye the Enfield Girl wasn't bad looking either.

Intrigued, I did some research and tracked down her original creator, a now deceased artist renown for his paintings of pin-up girls.

This pin-up girl wasn't originally posed on a Royal Enfield, or even on a motorcycle. That alteration was made for Royal Enfield by a young man at an advertising agency.

The transition from pin-up to motorcycle ad was skillful. Perhaps that was what put an idea into my head.

I was already amusing myself using PhotoShop to alter great motorcycling photos, putting my own face into the pictures. This was meant as a joke, but it also allowed me to imagine what it might have been like to be those riders, back in the glory days of motorcycling.

S-o-o-o-o... why not put my wife's head on the Enfield Girl's body?

Talk about inviting a negative reaction! The best I hoped for was a good laugh.

It was tricky. For one thing, the Enfield Girl is showing a lot of skin, and matching the skin tone was a chore.

Another problem was that, as part of the challenge to myself, I had insisted on always using the very same photo of myself for every shot I altered.

Whenever I had included my wife in a photo (as a sidecar passenger for instance) I had used the exact same photo of her head.

This was difficult, but it served to increase the "groan factor" when I used the results for home-made holiday cards for family members.

For the Enfield Girl project this was a real problem: the completely random photo I was using of my wife was not in sharp focus. Usually this was an advantage, as the old photos I was trying to match were often fuzzy.

But in this case the original Enfield Girl and her robust figure were in sharp focus. I had to blur her and the Royal Enfield cafe racer slightly to match.

The results were not entirely satisfactory and so I won't reproduce them here.

I'd better not.

Suffice it to say that the reaction I got on presentation of the finished product were close to what I expected.

Royal Enfield pin-up gains classic status

The racy pin-up girl in the ad for the Royal Enfield GT 500 motorcycle is now a "classic."

Apparently.

The Royal Enfield Parts & Accessories catalog produced by Classic Motorworks slyly refers to the poster babe I call the Enfield Girl as a sort of historical artifact.

According to the 2009 catalog, the 17-inch by 23-inch full-color image is available as a "Genuine poster of a 'Royal Enfield' advertisement from the early part of the century (21st Century)." In other words, the buxom beauty astride a Royal Enfield cafe racer dates all the way back to, maybe, 2004.

Item Z90511 thus can go up on your garage wall (for $7.95 plus shipping) with no danger of offending anyone. After all, she's time tested art, much like the Venus de Milo, but with arms and even some over stretched clothing. But don't call the Louvre to order, call Classic Motorworks at 1-800-201-7472.

Classic Motorworks catalog description of the Enfield Girl ad as being from the early part of the present century go back at least to 2007. As readers of this blog know, it's perfectly true she's a timeless beauty. The Enfield Girl was drawn from a classic pin-up by one of the master artists of the genre. She was set to canvas (so to speak) long before 2004 and you can read the full story here.