page_title: Douglas Dragonfly
section_title: Launch
hierarchical_section_title: Douglas Dragonfly / Launch
caption_attribution_description: original specification 1950's Douglas Dragonfly 350cc Motorcycle made in Bristol (UK) and photographed in Brighton. Distinctive features include headlamp nacelle flush with the petrol tank, Earles-type front suspension and horizontally-opposed ('flat') twin cylinder engine.
context_page_description: The Douglas Dragonfly is a motorcycle designed and built by Douglas motorcycles in Bristol. The last motorcycle produced by the company, the 1955 Dragonfly was an all-new motorcycle built to use an improved version of an existing engine. Despite its riding comfort, which was "equal to a car's", it did not sell well, and only 1,457 Dragonfly motorcycles were produced before the company was taken over and production ended in 1957.Very few Douglas motorcycles survive today making it one of the rarest motorcycles for collectors.
context_section_description: The launch of the Dragonfly was the last chance of survival for the Douglas company when it featured at the 1954 Earls Court motorcycle show in a big display held in a giant micrometer. Although it aroused a lot of interest, Douglas' finances did not allow them to exploit demand and the Dragonfly did not go into volume production for nine months.
caption: Douglas Dragonfly in distinctive alternative factory livery
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "E4600", "Image Software": "E4600v1.1", "Image DateTime": "0000:00:00 00:00:00", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "152", "EXIF ExposureTime": "2/355", "EXIF FNumber": "49/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "0000:00:00 00:00:00", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "0000:00:00 00:00:00", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "57/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2288", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1712", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "34", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}