Vincent Black Shadow and C bikes having 1⅛" Amal 289 carburettors and Series D bikes having 1⅛" Amal Type 389/10 units. While other contemporary motorcycles tended to be polished and chromed, founder Philip Conrad Vincent (PCV) decreed that the Black Shadow engine itself be black. The engine's signature colour was achieved by applying a "pyluminising" coating of chromate anti-corrosion primer over which a layer of Pinchin & Johnson black enamel was added. The part was then baked in an oven for 2 hours at . Although some have claimed that the black finish increased the rate of heat rejection from the engine, its
Edward the Black Prince possible that this is where the title had its origins. The French soldier Philippe de Mézières refers to Edward as the greatest of the "black boars" – those aggressors who had done so much to disrupt relations within Christendom. Other French writers made similar associations, and Peter Hoskins reports that an oral tradition of "L'Homme Noir", who had passed by with an army, survived in southern France until recent years. In Shakespeare's "Henry V", the King of France alludes to "that black name, Edward, Black Prince of Wales". John Speed reported in 1611 that the Black Prince was so named