Flexispeed Meteor 11--few survive with the headstock badge intact. More pictures of this original example here. The same lathe, but less the automatic carriage traverse and with a single swivelling toolslide, it was known as the "Meteor 1".

Simat 101
By the end of the 1970s the "Norfolk Lathe & Tool Company Ltd" of Royston House, North Walsham had taken over the lathe and offered it both as a finished unit and a kit of parts for home assembly. Manufacture and marketing then passed into the hands of Alphabeta Engineering of Gamers Way Industrial Estate, North Walsham, Norfolk when it became known as the Simat 101;  in an attempt to make the lathe self-contained it was offered in a "deluxe" version with a motor and simple countershaft unit made from propriety "Picador" parts. The worm-and-wheel drive to the leadscrew as used on late-model Flexispeed was wisely retained. The next stage in the lathe's evolution was to be the Perris

Although carrying a "Wizard" lathe, this is clearly a miniature and very rare Flexispeed cast-iron cabinet stand. As the picture below shows, it carries a standard Flexispeed countershaft unit, hinged from the back face and driven by a motor contained neatly within the housing.

Another example of the "Flexispeed-Wizard" this time a typical bulled-up-beyond-belief example from eBay where the "restorer" has tried to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. However, as a display piece it is rather fetching - and set off by the lovely vintage oil can with its hand-made soldered joints and thumb-operated pump in brass.

After the fitting of backgear and auto feed the next stage was to equip the lathe with screwcutting and a dog clutch on the leadscrew.  The screwcutting attachment was, in relative terms, very expensive - with its 10 changewheels it added 48% to the basic (1965) price of £31 : 9 : 6d. The lathe was supplied with covers over gears and belt drive - removed for the photograph.

A very prominent maker's badge cast into the belt-guard. Unlike some manufacturers of small machine tools - who appeared to have been shy about badging their machines - Flexispeed were keen to remind the owner who made the lathe and from where it came.