79x100

The 'CC' prefix means that it's in Canadian service so is likely to have been modified, even if just for the hell of it !

On the 16H, the mag body earthing screw is top right. The same system though. Lucas didn't waste ring terminals if balling the strands up behind a grub screw would suffice !

This chap explains it all very clearly. Negative earth is normal for motorcycles of this period. https://www.matchlessclueless.com/electrical/lucas/repolarising-lucas-dynamo/

Is it the case that an overseas authority, not finding an original chassis number has applied a 17-digit VIN number which is still on the chassis ? If so, it should be quite possible to register in the UK on that basis but I believe that the original number should be cancelled by over-stamping....If you wish it to be registered using the factory number then that ought to be possible but it's going to require the services of an authorised club with a clued-up and motivated Dating Officer...Not all of them are. It's quite common to find vehicles registered on casting numbers and that sort of thing and with perseverance, this can usually be sorted out.

A Triumph rattling ? They all do that, Sir ! 😄

Ron, at some point, some had panniers;..although no headlamp masks here so presumably very late- or post-war use.

The contract number stamped below 'C/S14219' was an RAF contract for 2826 machines with the number range 17001 - 19826 and delivered during 1943. A lot of WD/COs had been passed to the Home Office by 1945, for instance for use by the Fires Services and it seems that a number went to Central / Eastern Europe with UNRRA aid missions.

Ron, I'm pretty sure that's a 'Desmo' backing disc in the holder. Pre- and Early-war Triumphs, as was shown on this forum, were supplied with holders already fitted, and containing a Triumph advert, presumably for showroom display.

The WD/C saw limited service with the BEF in 1940 and several hundred may have been left in France. A handful of survivors are known. They mainly saw service on the U.K. Home Front, as in fact did the WD/CO, many of which had been transferred to the Home Office by 1944. There is actually no evidence that any of the four-stroke Enfields were officially on the establishment of any of the British-supplied army units in NW Europe...so any parts in The Netherlands will have arrived there later. The scene is very international though and the Dutch have been plundering UK jumbles for years !😁

Thanks for the motorcycle roll scan, Clive...it's useful confirmation. Do you know what the 'MC' refers to on both the tool case and the roll references ? I've seen it too on leather straps...and it doesn't seem to indicate 'Motor-Cycle'.

Clive, would your lists include the motor-cycle tool roll LV6.MT2/6704 with drawing numbers and dates ?

Does that mean you can't sit astride a Velo and simply roll it off the rear stand ? Not very handy for a quick getaway !

Registration district may give a clue. Most government vehicles such as Home Office etc. were registered in Middlesex.

'Petrol in a box'...Takes me back to seventies pubs serving 'Soup in a basket' 🙂

"Vehicle Marking 1941' instructed that BDS be displayed "on the nearside of the windscreen or an equivalent position" so there must have been a change of practice.

Royal Armoured Corps from the look of it. There is a useful list on the WW2talk forum. http://ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/army-number-block-allocations.4837/ From 1942 onwards, most will be via the General Service Corps with no indication of subsequent allocations.

That's a nice Norton Doherty twistgrip on there, Steve. Presumably pre-war civvy as it's 7/8"...The colour underneath looks more like Olive Drab a than KG3...Could it have been a WD restoration taken back to black again at a time when WD bikes weren't fetching ? 1970s wiring colours by the look of it.

This falls under the block allocated to the General Service Corps where all recruits were allocated from 1942 or so. My father had a number beginning 145***** and he enlisted February 1943 so this chap would have been later.

You'll have heard of 'Panther' though ? The brand name became better-known. Right to the end, they retained that tall 'Sloper' engine for their heavyweight machines.

It's a P&M...The registration is a pre-war Yorkshire series, issued from 1904 to 1912. Is he in military service in this photo ?

It's made the Belgian news too, but over here, most British shells that they find have been in the ground for more than a hundred years...The photo makes it seem even more painful ! https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2021/12/03/obus/

I think that you have to bear the spirit of the age in mind, Andy...Most people with a lost registration were more than happy with a new number bearing the latest suffix letter and they then rushed out to put a reflective plate on to impress the neighbours...Times have changed.

Andy, there is nothing to stop you from putting a cherished number on it, is there ? A Nottinghamshire number with the correct suffix letter and three numbers ought not to be too expensive ? I agree that you shouldn't have to.

They gave about ten years to register vehicles based on the old log books with no additional checks and finally had to give up as it was obvious the number plate dealers were buying up lost books with 'nice' numbers. It was widely published in the motorcycle press at the time that the system was coming to an end and documentation would be required...The Lovejoys of the old vehicle trade were more than capable of faking an old painted number plate and bolting it to a rusty wreck. As an enthusiast for old vehicles and historical records in general, I find it a tragedy that the LVLO records were destroyed....but they were, so unless you can find the log book, there is no way that you can hope to reclaim it now. We're forty years on from when it was last possible and the situation has only become more difficult with each policy change. There is nothing to stop you displaying off-road with your old plates, if you want to...and within about ten years that's likely to be all that is permitted with any of our infernal combustion engines...

Andy, there will only have been a record created (and microfilmed at Swansea) for vehicles which were 'active' after computerisation began. In some cases, this will have involved the keeper forwarding the old brown log book and they should have microfilmed it before destruction...However, if you know that the old brown log book was simply lost and it has never been on the computer system then that will be a dead-end. DVLC most certainly didn't ask local authorities for copy records relating to 70 years worth of registrations , mostly for vehicles that no longer existed. I don't believe there is any evidence that DVLA ever have or intend to re-sell old registration numbers..there are enough permutations of the modern sequences. Initially, it was quite straightforward to put older vehicles onto the system, but it was exploited to a criminal degree by the parasites who call themselves Number Plate Dealers. I've seen motorcycles with thirty or so frame numbers stamped on them. At one time, they accepted tax discs, but that was fiddled too and now the burden of proof is extremely high..