Cotton on to this

A picture of a Villiers-engined Cotton trials mount scanned from an original sales promotion from this company, which began producing motorcycles in 1918.  When, in the early Seventies, Norton-Villiers-Triumph decided to use all of their Villiers engines to produce the AJS Stormer motocrossers, small British firms like Cotton and Greeves were left high and dry.  Greeves turned to the Austrian engine-maker Puch, and Cotton turned to the Italian firm, Minarelli.  It was the last hurrah:  Greeves closed its doors in 1976, and Cotton followed suit in 1980.  Anyway, the Cotton sure had lovely lines.