79x100

Does the box of tricks help a lot, Ron ? Most of the accuracy of a fag paper is lost when tapping the pinion on / tightening it. I can imagine that a more accurate indication of points opening might make that even more frustrating :-)

Some of my Dad's signals unit with the K5 Portee to GS conversion that they finished the war in Germany with. It looks as if only the tilt on this one had disruptive.

Another trialled WD/C (This is Noel Pope on a C6125 bike) and a later model WD/C (C7182 ?) on an East Midlands RASC trial (October 1942)

I thought you'd know, Ron. That's you in the background playing on the bombsite in your school uniform, isn't it ?

The other side apparently carried a duplicate of the arm of service serial, as per standard post-1941 practice. '73' was an Infantry Brigade Company RASC in the 1944 listings.

Certainly not as black as the (gloss) numberplate though. I'm not convinced that they all were...

That's interesting, Ron. Norton contract C5109 had a rim in service colour - but these parts were supplied by Lucas who had been offering the 8" DU142 in a WD version for some time.

'Service colour' changed over time and pre-war ammunition containers (not 6 pdr of course) were bronze green. It might just be possible that some early boxes for the 6 pdr were in Khaki Green. SCC2 was discontinued in 1944 so it's quite likely that there was a year or so of wartime production in British Olive Drab.

Jan and I had a serious rivet-counter's discussion about this Ron. It really does seem that they drilled the mounts at the end of the rib..I think we half-wondered if some guards had longer ribs for a reason. It was a small contract though and it would only have taken one off-day with a mis-read drawing to show up on survivors or Photographs. In theory still, a UK numberplate has to be mounted vertically (although modern bikes seem to take liberties).

I think that there should be a BEF Norton in attendance as well then :-)

When are we going to see these two next to each other then ? Two machines from the same contract restored to original specification is pretty unusual.

Take them to Beaulieu. Someone will buy them !

Correct black-out precautions for 1940 would simply be the manilla card with semi-circular cutout placed behind the glass (and in theory a half-painted reflector).....although documentary and anecdotal evidence suggests that the BEF had generally gone over to blue painted glass by May 1940. This example with 52nd (Lowland) Div is 2nd BEF so fresh from the UK

Don't say that there are 'early' and 'late' WD/C fuel tanks ! I bet the parts list never changed.

You presumably offered it up on the bike, Ron ? Dod you tin the assembly ?

No, procedures and colours were very much standardised, certainly when they left the factories. From quite early in the conflict, machines for all branches were finished in a standard Service colour. For 1940 / '41, this would have been Khaki Green No.3, later SCC (Standard Camouflage Colour) No.2 and later still, British Olive Drab. If you're looking for ex-Works, 1941 delivery then KG3 is what you have to aim for.

Ron is much more up to speed with Trumpets, but as a Norton man, I have to say that parts for 3HWs seem pretty scarce. I think it didn't help that Meriden wanted nothing to do with single cylinders after the war and although a very competent motorcycle, the British Army didn't retain them long in service so there is no large stock of unused post-war parts.

I'm not sure what that speedo started life on. You should have a Smiths 'Chronometric'. 80 mph. Non-illuminated. Non-trip. Have you found original forks ? Many of us have great concerns about the quality of the Indian-made replicas. They appear to feature cast-iron lugs and it is impossible to obtain any details over materials specifications.

S6680 was a curtailed contract as the war in Europe was clearly coming to a close which would free up large numbers of vehicles. Originally for 8000 machines, it was cut short at 5200 and therefore only ran from TL53418 to TL58617. It had been scheduled for delivery at 1200 machines per month commencing January 1945 but in practice, these deadlines were rarely achieved, quite often due to materials shortages. The record is marked "Vehicles still remaining undelivered to be made suitable for the Tropics 26/3/45" although another comments states "50 Tropicalized". It is not exactly clear what this involved but it seems to have related more to storage and rust-proofing than to the machine spcification. There is an undated instruction "DLO 242" - "All to be produced less tyres and batteries until further notice" - This is fairly common on machines destined for the Far East as it made no sense to transport rubber and other raw materials half way round the world only to send them all the way back again. The final comment is marked "Break Clause...Contract complete at 5200" Unfortunately this is also undated but there is reference to 12/6/45 on the card and this would probably tie in with the production date of your frame. Do you know where your bike was recovered from ? Certainly in India and what was to become Pakistan, it was quite common for the British to leave vehicles for the the armed forces of the newly-independent countries and paint finishes can reflect this. Re-finishing was a comprehensive process and could include caustic tanks etc. so sometimes all traces of factory finish were removed. As Ron says, the British version of the olive drab used by the U.S. would have been the factory colour. The photo below shows a 3HW with a serial beginning C610 photgraphed in Malaya.

Mine was rock-hard and twisted. I followed Radco's advice and burned it out before soldering it all back together again with a new diaphragm (made out of glued together inner tube :-) ) It did smoke a bit....unextinguishable too. I had to let it burn itself out.

It's looking pretty good, Ron. Did you have to replace the rubber in the bulb holder or was it still OK ?

There is a certain amount of understanding at DVLA that ex-military vehicles (sold by the Government of course) often had re-stamped or altered frame numbers and that there were many unstamped new spares at the time. There is no doubt that this is a 1940s WD Triumph frame so there is no question of it not being historic but you will need to proceed carefully. You're either going to need a well-informed and sympathetic Owner's Club rep who is trusted by DVLA or otherwise perhaps the least well-informed club that they will accept, because with the best will in the world, no non one-make specialist is likely to pick up on the finer points of fonts in stampings. The VMCC have the original factory records, but only after the Coventry bombing of course and they are bound to look the number up... Be aware that DVLA officials do hang around the internet. It's a delicate subject and you need to get it right first time and perhaps the worst thing that one can do is to present a vehicle with badly re-stamped numbers.

There is nothing in Cole that matches it. It looks to me as if the darker square is very much part of the sign. Several Indian formations used circles on square backgrounds but this looks like a square within a square. Perhaps a local variation somewhere. Very much in the tropics I think.

Ron ! This is a family forum ! Mr Mad with 25 hobs per boot would get you up and running far more quickly. I would offer to help but I lost most of the hobs from my boots on the pavé of Cassel a couple of weeks ago.

Ben's horn body certainly had the Miller medallion and it was the first time that I'd seen it but Jan's copies of the RE factory photos around 1939 / '40 do seem to confirm that theirs were so badged. I love these little touches, especially when they differentiate the early stuff.