Anderland Posted January 31, 2020 Posted January 31, 2020 Hey everybody, this is Jonas, 40 years old, from Germany. As my Terrot HSC 350 from 1927 is currently under restauration, i bought myself a Royal Enfield 350 WD/CO. Although i still have to work on it quite a bit to get it running the way i want it, i really like this motorcycle! Thump-thump-thump... I noticed the many different numbers on the motor and the gearbox and so i tried to get the history of my WD/CO clear. I found a german website which did shed a light on the history a little bit, but i could not fully understand every number and the way everything is connected. So i´d really appreciate some help of yours with all the numbers... And here we go: Frame number is the same as engine number on crankcase: 130xx Contract-Number on crankcase: C/12425 Also on crankcase: "crowbar" M 26 Number under the magneto: 20505 Gearbox Albion: HDM 283 (also two single numbers "3" and "2") Unfortunately, there is an indian SMITH-replica mounted and some indian repro-parts as well. Oh dear... Thank you kindly, Jonas Quote
welbike Posted February 1, 2020 Posted February 1, 2020 Hello Jonas, welcome here, I'm sure Jan here will chime in, with more information you would ever think was imaginable, but a small note about the arrow and the numbers, (M26) this is an inspectors stamping. Cheers, Lex Schmidt Quote
rewdco Posted February 1, 2020 Posted February 1, 2020 Moin Jonas, I'm keeping a Register for the WD Royal Enfields. Please send me a PM and I'll send you a document with all the information that you're after. Gruss, Jan Quote
Anderland Posted February 1, 2020 Author Posted February 1, 2020 Hey Lex Schmidt, hey Jan, thank you very much! I just sent you a PM, Jan. Have a good day, Jonas Quote
welbike Posted February 2, 2020 Posted February 2, 2020 No probs, I'm having a WD-C restored right now! this was in civillian trim also, but I like the military look better. Cheers, Lex Quote
Anderland Posted February 3, 2020 Author Posted February 3, 2020 Hey Lex, i already read about your project before registrating here! Very interesting and a great report - i learn a lot from it! Currently Jan and me are in e-mail correspondence... So much information! Really a science on it´s own. Greets, Jonas Quote
Ron Posted February 3, 2020 Posted February 3, 2020 (edited) Be careful you don't get the bug Jonas😉 Ron Edited February 3, 2020 by Ron Quote
Anderland Posted February 5, 2020 Author Posted February 5, 2020 (edited) Thank you for your help, Jan! As i think that it might be interesting for others to know, here is what he found out: "Frame number 130xx was despatched from the factory in Redditch on 12/12/1942 to the War Office in Wilford, as part of military contract C/13869 (3000 motorcycles with an Albion gearbox). This was the sister contract of contract C/13870, which was the contract for 3000 motorcycles with a Burman gearbox. It would have had census number C4942793 on both sides of the petrol tank. Although the “duplicated frame number” (stamped just below the cylinder base) is also 130xx, the engine in your bike is not the original engine. The number under the cylinder base has been restamped, if you look closely you will see a flat surface where the original number has been filed out. Some of the military bikes were reconditioned by the factory after that war, and engines and frames often got mixed up. The factory had a habit of restamping the duplicated frame number in a specific font. Your engine has this font, and in the factory ledgers I did indeed find out that 130xx has been factory rebuilt. It was despatched from the factory (for the second time) on 13/04/1948 to Cruickshank in Aberdeen. (As i may add: In my german vehicle papers ("Zulassungsbescheinigung Teil 1"), the "Fahrzeugschein", it says that the date of first registration ("Datum der Erstzulassung des Fahrzeugs") is 31.05.1948.) When I compare your “engine number” (20505) with other entries in my Register, I can see that it must have come from a motorcycle with a frame number around 9000 (which would indicate May 1944). This would have been a contract C/12425 number, which is confirmed by the contract number stamp on the engine: C/12425. The “acceptance marking” for this contract is ^M426. The “4” on your engine is barely visible though. The gearbox with prefix HDM is definitely post war. A war-time gearbox should have a HH* prefix." With the help of Jans documents i found out that my WD/CO has a "type 1 frame" and a "type 1 1/2 fork with steering damper and check springs". Edited February 6, 2020 by Anderland Quote
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