Ewok

And finally the Swedish Landsverk.....

Hope you all enjoy:-D

Belgian FN Oufits Used by The Argentinian Military in the mid 30's

And Now for some Armoured Harleys:- 2 from Denmark, 1 from Chile, 1 American and 1 Polish

Armoured motorcycles seemed to fascinate a number of countries before the war but none seemed to catch on.... I wonder why?:???

I'll start with the French. This is a Gillet Armoured Unit, I love the turret

This one is not a fake though - Pre-war French, 1938. Must have a turning circle of a mile.....:cool2:

This is where all the Indians went to:- French Army, German Army & Russian Lend-Lease:tup::

As a Biker with riding experiences spanning back to 1964 I would say that the 350 would never have been used with a sidecar during it's military life. With at least two soldiers, kit, weapons etc it would have been hard pressed to move around on the road, let alone cross country. The Norton had a dog clutch to engage the drive to the sidecar wheel, which no other bike in British service had. The only other possibility for a sidecar outfit of 350cc would be an impressed civilian bike with sidecar already attached.

Nothing new under the sun and I bet the sound systems were louder too...:banana::drive:

I great effort was made to ensure 'The Unknown Soldier' who lies in Westminster Abbey was 'White' as well. The bodies that were to be chosen from came from a part of the battlefield that had seen action early in the war, before 'Colonial' troops arrived in theatre.

No racism here.........

Here are a few vehicles that may interest you. :-D

Back In the day AC made a 350cc powered invalid carriage and a mate of mine used to work in the garage where they serviced them. Being toung and stupid, he and his mate 'tuned' the loan vehicle. The next customer in left his car for service and took the loaner. He got to the main road, gave it a fist full of throttle and wheelied it into a lampost on the opposite side of the road ....... :rofl: :rofl::stop:

Not very good at lorry recognition, so may be on the wrong thread. I apologise if it is and ask that somebody puts it in the appropriate place. I came across this (Night Convoy, UK 1941) while looking for bike piccies. Hope you like it....:sweat:

Loads of vehicles got left in theatre and sold on for civilian use or scrap. It is a pity that some rare or famous piece of machinery got scrapped because nobody wanted it.....:cry:

As a matter of Interest the motorcycle & Tank are part of the 9th Armoured Div. and the marking on the front of the bikes mudguard is a Panda, a play on the German 'Panzer'.

I'm into motorcycles, but to make it interesting for those of the multi wheel/tracked persuasion I have added some pictures with background interest for you......:-D

Iam Having a few probs at the moment. Took the head off to check if a decoke was necessary, not knowing it's previous service history and managed to shear a head bolt - Doh! to remove the bolt, I had to take the barrel off and found massive scoring of the piston and the top groove chock full of carbon - not good! I have tried to remove the broken stud, but it looks like a drill out and helicoil is in order. She won't be on the road for a while as finances are a bit tight (I am only working a 21 3/4 hour week at the moment). I have bought all the parts I need but a rebore and oversize piston are out of the question at the moment.

Here are a few more pictures, one is another view at Wellingborough Fire Station and the other was at the Crazy Diamonds Rally a few years back. The third is a picture of my poor old Piston which looks like it has had a partial siezure at some time.....:cry:

It's amazing what googling Wartime Advertising can turn up. The Volkswagen one is actually an anti-smoking poster and says something to the effect "2 Million Volkswagens up in smoke". Seems nothing much changes....

Here is a picture of my bike taken at Wellingborough Fire Station in April of last year (2008). Since buying the bike, I have found some rear racks and pannier bags. I also obtained a replica vokes filter for less than 200 Euros. I have yet to fit the blackout to the headlight which I got from Ebay for £10.00. The colour scheme is for early war and the red over blue represents an Artillery machine. I also bought two steel helmets, one without internal webbing for £10 (Cash Converters in Wellingborough) and another from the net for £36.00 and a camo net (supposedly from the set of Band of Brothers for a fiver). I usually fit three poppies in the camo to represent the three generations of my family who served.

Hope you like her......:sweat:

I think I found the rest.......

It seems that the images have not been shown in the order that I uploaded them. I am sure you can sort them out. I have trawled the net for ages and have a huge collection of military motorcycle pictures. If anybody needs a picture and I have it, just ask and I will post it.

Here are a few more adverts and magazine covers.The First two are American and the third is a Belgium Postcard. Four and Five are from the UK and Six is Canadian. Seven to Ten are again UK and Eleven is from Denmark. Twelve is French and Thirteen (a bit of a joke) to Fifteen are German. The Last is for the Japanese Harley Davidson built under liscence as the Rikou type 97 and came in trike form (like the servicar) and was used throughout WW2

Here is another motorcycle advert

Don't ask me, I'm lost too....

My BSA WM20 would have cost £48 5s (£48.25) in January 1940. In the 60's Pride & Clarke's in Camberwell had ex-forces WM20's and 16H's for around £45.00.

The new bonnet mascot made it impossible to see the road, so had to be sawn off.....