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.