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rewdco

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Everything posted by rewdco

  1. People often ask about the rebuild identifications that they found on their MV. Little is known about these identifications, not at least because the structure of the military workshops is quite complex. There were Command Workshops, Central Workshops, Base Workshops, Advanced Base Workshops and Auxiliary Workshops, just to name the most important ones for this study. Each with their own specific numbering sequence in which I can find no logic at all... I’ve done some research, and I’ll try to explain… This survey is by no means complete. Here we go...
  2. Lots of interesting WW1 photographs on Alamy.com . Search for "military workshop operations"...
  3. I have given you all the information there is to have on the WD motorcycles forum...
  4. Just found this picture on an auction site.
  5. rewdco

    BSA WB30

    I take my hat off to you Sir! 👍
  6. Belgian Minerva ambulance during the 1930's
  7. Hi Dennis, The frame number 18505 and the duplicated frame number 18859 both come from the RAF contract C/14219. This was a contract for 2826 bikes, deliveries from January until December 1943. Frame number 18505 was despatched from the factory on 10/06/43, destination War Office - Hartlebury. (Duplicated) frame number 18859 was despatched from the factory on 09/09/43, destination War Office - Sheffield. These destinations were depots, from where the bikes were sent to their units. It is impossible to find out where a bike spent its service years. Unfortunately the RAF census number records haven't survived. With RAOC bikes it is possible to calculate the census number based on the frame number, this is not the case for RAF vehicles. But during my research I have found a few interesting facts... I think that for this study we have to consider that there were two "sister contracts”: There was one large Ariel W/NG RAF contract: C/S14218 (09/04/42 demand date, 1.800 motorcycles, deliveries from 15/01/43 until 23/12/43). And there was one large Royal Enfield WD/CO RAF contract: C/S14219 (09/04/42 demand date, 2.826 motorcycles, deliveries from 08/01/43 until 15/12/43). I've got some war time pictures with W/NGs with random RAF census numbers (most probably transferred from Army contracts), but I also have several war time pictures showing different RAF Ariel W/NG motorcycles with "close" census numbers: RAF 94707, RAF 94834, RAF 94838, RAF 94863, RAF 95029, RAF 95092, RAF 95764 and RAF 95835. This looks like one block of numbers to me (something like RAF 94200 - RAF 96000). We’ve also found some RAF WD/CO photographs with random numbers and pannier frames, which suggests that these bikes were transferred from an Army contract. And we’ve got two pictures with census numbers RAF 116745 and RAF 116809. I also found six Royal Enfield RAF census numbers in post war auction catalogues: RAF 116800, RAF 116919, RAF 116924, RAF 116938, RAF 118142 and RAF 118260. If we consider that contract C/14219 was a contract for 2.826 motorcycles, I think we can assume that the RAF census numbers block for this contract must have been approximately RAF 116000 until approximately RAF 119000. The two pictures below are the official C/14219 photographs taken at the factory. They show the exact spec to which the RAF bikes were made: no pillion equipment and no pannier frames (which can also be seen in the first picture above).
  8. What a disaster. To be honest, I can hardly find any Royal Enfield parts in this contraption... 😳
  9. This was also my first thought. On the other hand, we know that vehicles have been transferred from Army to RAF. Did these vehicles keep their Army census number? I guess it was replaced, but maybe this took some time in certain cases?
  10. No idea... How does the saddle frame looks like? WD - British or Italian?
  11. I have seen French versions ("kilomètres", Jaeger was a French company...), but I've never seen an Italian one before ("chilometri ora"). It must have been black, before someone overpainted it with a translucent "rosso corsa" paint. Why...? Dunno...
  12. I've been Googling a bit on the Italian internet, unfortunately I couldn't find anything on the Triumph conversions. But I did find these pictures of two different Matchlesses: And above all, I found a forum (https://rugginose.forumfree.it/?t=73637300 , you have to register in order to see anything) where somebody was asking information about this Matchless: This is his late grandfather's bike that he would like to re-register, but it appears that he's got some problems with that. Some interesting quotes from this forum, with Google translation: Mi ha spiegato che a fine anni 40,la mia e' immatricolata 1949,una ditta di Torino civilizzava queste moto militari,e la principale modifica era proprio rendere elasticizzate la parte posteriore,e per quanto riguarda l'asi ,non riusciro' ad avere la documentazione necessaria. He explained to me that at the end of the 40s, mine was registered in 1949, a company in Turin civilized these military motorcycles, and the main modification was precisely to make the rear part elasticised, and as far as the ASI is concerned, I won't be able to have the necessary documentation. And this: Dopo il disastro della guerra, con le attrezzature semidistrutte e le moto ufficiali rocambolescamente ritrovate su un treno al confine con l'allora Jugoslavia, la Benelli si rimise in piedi proprio con queste modifiche sulle moto inglesi dei campi ARAR.Nei campi ARAR si potevano acquistare per pochi soldi le moto dismesse dagli Alleati e alcune Aziende (come Benelli) acquistavano le moto, poi le rivendevano rimesse in ordine, con il retrotreno modificato con gli ammortizzatori e spesso una colorazione non militare.L'officina Ancillotti di Firenze rivendeva le Harley Davidson WLA e così tantissime altre sparse in tutta Italia.Le moto così trasformate sono perfettamente storiche, e mi sembra davvero strano che in ASI non lo comprendano.Al tuo posto proverei con FMI, magari facendo due chiacchiere con un esaminatore. After the disaster of the war, with the semi-destroyed equipment and the daringly found official motorbikes on a train on the border with what was then Yugoslavia, Benelli got back on its feet precisely with these modifications on the British motorbikes of the ARAR fields. In the ARAR camps it was possible to buy motorcycles abandoned by the Allies for little money and some companies (such as Benelli) bought the motorcycles, then resold them in order, with the rear axle modified with shock absorbers and often a non-military color. The Ancillotti workshop in Florence resold Harley Davidson WLAs and so many others scattered throughout Italy. The motorcycles transformed in this way are perfectly historic, and it seems really strange to me that they don't understand this at ASI. In your place I would try the FMI, perhaps having a chat with an examiner. For your interest: all the derelict allied vehicles in Italy were lined up in the ARAR fields, and sold off, presumably in auctions:
  13. More info about the Acumen Ariel-version added in the appropriate post.
  14. I think it could be worth contacting the MotoCiclismo d'epoca editor. When I was working in Italy in the 1990's I always bought this high quality monthly. It used to have (still has?) lots of in-depth articles. Definitely worth a try!
  15. Apart from only a few bikes from the very first (RAF) 3HW contract C/12492, the engine number is always 10000 higher than the frame number. Don't know why...
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