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While looking at the website, www.gov.uk/vehicle-tax, I thought I would enter the registration numbers obtained from photographs of my late father’s old bikes. The only one recognised, but untaxed for many years, is PFC 811, a Douglas MK5 first registered in June 1950 in the County Borough council of Oxfordshire. Born November 1932, my father…

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I have been reading with interest the article by Pete Kelly on the Villiers 2T and saw the picture, in the February edition, of Brian Tilke on his DMW Dolomite II De Luxe. I inherited my dad’s 1954 DMW P200 about five years ago and spent two years restoring it. The bikes are very rare and…

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Having just picked up the latest OBM, I was somewhat taken aback to see what I thought was a picture of my first ‘big bike’ on page 6. My Tiger (where are you now WGH 882M?) served me well, and for a short while mine even had crash-bars as per the bike shown in The…

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Some time ago I read an article about the OK Supreme Lighthouse engine. It had a vertical camshaft on which the cams were fixed at the top and therefore worked horizontally. But there was no detailed explanation of how the lateral motion of the cams was converted to vertical motion to operate the valves. Please…

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Re OBM issue 404, the unidentified Villiers engine bike on page 42 appears to be a Panther 197 of 1958-1960 vintage. It looks very like the one I rode, but mine had the 250 Twin fitted and had Earles forks. Barry Thorpe, North Wales Read more Letters, Opinion, Reviews, News and Views in the March 2019…

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I enclose two more of Colin Clark’s images. I do not know any details of rider or machines, but the first looks like a Norton International (9), and is marked 1950-1951. The second appears to be an AJS 7R “boy racer” (52). Note the trackside hazards! I would be interested to find out if any…

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I promised I’d send you a pic of the ’38 overhead valve Norton that came my way at the weekend: its history is unknown but it’s a local (to me) bike and has a tax disc from 1969, so maybe the reg number will be recoverable? It is reasonably complete and came with a number…

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I came across a photo of my dad when he was in the army, sitting on a Calthorpe Ivory (I think), registration DYT187. Looking on the DVLA website, I was surprised to see it still registered. I would love to find out who owns it now and share the photo with them. I wondered if…

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I have been a regular subscriber to OBM for the last 25 years and always look forward to the copy dropping on my doormat. I was very much enjoying the excellent article by Pete Kelly on the Villiers 2T engine and, to my great surprise, found a picture of myself riding my 250cc DMW Dolomite…

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