Unearthed
Two owners from new
4 February 2012
Steve Lee writes from Norfolk with this photograph of the 1923 BSA Model L he’s just acquired. It was running as recently as four years ago and has had a pretty easy life. It’s been in one family from new (just two owners) and is in original trim. It came with a Swansea V5 so my services won’t be needed in that department. Steve is hoping to be at Banbury this year. The registration PW 1928 is a local Norfolk issue which commenced in January 1923.
TT Winner?
4 February 2012.
Tony Stark has the Gold Star you see here, having acquired it from an old friend who had owned it for the past 40 years. It’s registered TOJ 876 and came with an old continuation logbook, which shows his friend as the last owner from March 7, 1968. He’s been told that this is the bike ridden by Bernard D Codd which won the 1956 TT. It was, however, crashed at Mallory Park in 1959 and may have had a frame swap afterwards, although he’s not sure about this. He’d welcome any more information about the bike if anyone can help.
Unidentified
9 January 2012.
Michael Swain sends me a photograph of a little bike which he acquired about 40 years ago and on which his children learnt to ride on his good friend Peter Harris’s farm in Trawsmawr just north of Carmarthen and not a million miles from where this is being written. The children graduated to Yamaha TY80s and then TY175s, and the bike was barn-stored for 30 years. He’d now like to restore it but doesn’t know what make it is! It bears frame number SLS 57447 and engine number PX 32B 7095/1. Can anyone identify it?
M20
9 January 2012.
Andrew Honychurch has a fairly extensive collection of bikes which includes this ex-military BSA M20. It’s registered 498 NAU, a 1961 Nottingham series, and this is obviously a number allocated when it was released from military service since the bike is clearly earlier than this. Andrew doesn’t want an age-related number but unfortunately has no logbook for the bike. Nevertheless I think I can recover the number for him, and have offered to do this.
Ajay model D
3 December 2011.
Alan Dorman, in the West Country, sends me this photograph of the 1920 AJS Model D which belonged to his late father. He tells me the bike is complete, although not all parts are shown in the photograph. His father had intended to restore the bike but after dismantling it 20 years ago never got round to it. The bike is registered NH 3876 but has no documents. I’ve therefore directed Alan to Northampton Record Office, where the archive records are held. The bike apparently spent some time in India before being brought back by an oil rig worker.
Cornish AJay
7 November 2011.
Richard Johns responded to Ernie Warmington’s appeal for photographs of Cornish-registered bikes. It’s a March 1931-registered AJS 350cc Big Port – the first time the factory actually used this model name which the general public had previously adopted because of the large diameter exhaust port. It was found in Helston and was said to have never left Cornwall. It seems to have been last on the road in 1949, and after getting it running, Richard discovered that the drive-side main shaft was turning in the flywheel – probably the reason it was laid up for 60 years! Sold as a ‘tax beater’, it was pared down to weigh under 224lb, taking advantage of the lower tax rate. It was the last real AJS model before the bankruptcy and Collier takeover.
Mystery Bike
7 November 2011.
Dave Donovan in Uxbridge sends me this photograph of a little machine he found in a London street near Little Venice in Maida Vale, during his lunch hour. He eventually managed to track down the owner and bought it for £25. The tank bears the legend ‘Aguzzi Cyclomotore, Pavia’ and the engine is by Franco Motore Morini. It has a three-speed hand-change and the brakes are stamped Ducati. Dave has been unable to find out anything about the bike, and I must confess it’s a new one on me. None of my reference books include it. Can anyone help?
Mystery Scooter
7 November 2011.
Lewis Peake sends me this photograph of a motor scooter which a friend has come across. The friend is unsure of the make and model, however, and all the badging has been removed. The seat and front mudguard have been modified, but the friend fully intends to restore the bike so any help with identification would be appreciated. Letters can be forwarded.
Powerbike
3 October 2011.
Ken Streeter in Abbots Langley has acquired the Francis-Barnett Powerbike you see here. He’s 83 years young, partly disabled through arthritis, and says that rebuilding the bike will help to keep him active. It bears frame number 3054 and engine number XXA 47248 (Villiers 98cc), which dates it to around 1940/41, and features a back pedalling brake, rubber suspension mounted on the forks and the exhaust system comprises two small barrels merging into a tailpipe, rather than the usual aluminium type.
Nimbus
3 October 2011.
Back in the late Fifties when I was serving in the RAF in northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein), we used to make frequent trips over the border into Denmark. There, the Danish military and the Danish AA patrols were all equipped with 750cc Nimbus motorcycles with their distinctive pressed steel frames and four-in-line engines. I haven’t seen one since. Richard Davies in Essex sent me this photograph of the 1955 example he has. It bears frame number 12969 and engine number 7521, and I’ve issued him with a dating certificate to enable him to obtain an age-related registration number.
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