Useful gen. Keith...Is anyone collating WD information at the Ariel OC or separately ? I know that BSA, Norton and RE are quite comprehensively rivet-counted. I've not come across anyone doing the same for WD Ariels though.
Gents
I can confirm that myself and another AOMCC member are undertaking ongoing research and documentation into the Ariel W/NG specification changes, relating those changes/addition of parts (identified by their part numbers)to the contract numbers in which they occurred. There were some thirty W/NG contracts according to the factory despatch books and at present we have 19 parts books which cover all the years of production from 1940 to 1945, the majority of the missing ones are from RN and RAF contracts.
A number of curious anomalies have arisen during the research, such as the fitting of steel primary cases in late 1943 which only applied to three contracts before reverting to the alloy cases in late 1944, whilst the steel timing cases cover continued from late 43 to the end of production.
As will be appreciated the task is long term and the more information we have the more definitive the result will be. Finding the missing parts books is an ongoing task.
These Ariel WNG instruction books date from 1940/41,the lower left one was issued in December 1940,the lower right one in March 1941 contract number 294/C/9387.
Photo below is the same in the two top instruction books.
Photo below is the same in the two bottom instruction books,Dec & Mar , panniers are now fitted.
Below some later rider handbooks.
Below two late rider handbooks,the right hand one has instructions for the air filter so must be late issue
NAYLOR & ROOT were selling late model WNGs in this advert from 1950,fitted with air filters and late lighting,could they have been the Royal Navy models ?
Some of the WNGs from contract 294/23/S8049 made it to the Far East,this photo taken in Klang in November 1945 shows one of the RN bikes.
I have just picked up on the posting by Keith re the contract W/ng numbers, I have XG20758 so appears to be about 200 after the end of this contract, however it is below the next mentioned contract records any views welcome chaps.
kind regards
The 3000 machines were intended to be split 1500 RAOC Chilwell (C4589426 - C4590925) and 1500 RASC (C1308302 - C1039801).
There is a pencilled note dated 11/8/1941 in RAOC records "Probably 422 for RAF Depots"
It looks as if Chilwell received their first deliveries on 11/10/1941 and the last of their 1500 on 19/12/1941 so presumably the RAF allocation were from the RASC batch and were from the first 1500 frames....although it's not actually stated how the frame numbers were allocated.
Richard I calculate it to be C4589683. But according to Rik's observations 422 of that first 1500 for the RAOC might have gone to the RAF, but I doubt anyone will ever know. Ron
These early Ariel contracts are difficult and any with RAOC / RASC splits are poorly documented. It looks to me as if the RAOC deliveries did not occur until after the RAF diversions....so my best guess is that they were from the RASC allocations and weren't sent to Ashchurch as originally ordered. The RAOC were something of sticklers for numbers matching serials...
The RAOC machines were probably XG 22001 - 23500...meaning that any lower numbers were RASC or RAF....If RASC then the serial was from the C1038302 - 1039801 range.
By chance, an image of one appeared on Facebook today.
This thread has prompted me to have a look at the V5 for my Ariel which has the frame number XG52908. Having looked at O&M it seems to be a Royal Navy contract. Can someone please tell me if this is correct and if so what colour should it be and can someone please post a photo of an RN Ariel. All I know about this bike is that it had a Isle of Mann registration when I bought it. Thanks JT
Indeed, John's bike comes from contract S6287 (an Army contract), census number C6195018. Despatch date 11/06/1945. Here's a picture with a close number:
Clive's bike comes from Army contract S/4554, census number C5493405. Despatch date 30/06/1944. Some pictures with close numbers below. Bikes from this contract were clearly used during the liberation of the Low Countries:
And these are stills from some rare colour footage of a despatch rider training camp:
Thanks Jan , that is really helpful. The photos too will be very useful in my restoration challenge. My late dad told me he thought the bike was a 1943 model he bought it in 1952 but I never saw it on the road.
"Ignoscito siepe alteri, nunquam tibi"
"Forgive the others, never yourself"
😐
You were also asking for the catalogue numbers Clive. Specifications of these bikes varied, according to the contract number. That's why every contract number had its own specific parts catalogue number. The parts catalogue number was printed in purple ink on the cover of each parts list. If a bike from your contract needed spare parts to be ordered, they had to take the parts list with number 16 on the cover to check the ID numbers of the parts.
Thanks again. I did order a illustrated parts book from Draganfly for Xg 47251-51250, it had a code PB44_9,
But they've sent a PB44_11 saying the earlier one is superceded by this PB44 _11 covers xg44251-47250, it shows Contract S5514 /17/1 issued Nov 44.
The bike is in "baskets" at the moment and I m checking through the bits . The steel primary and inner case are not true With rippled edges, I'm not sure i can be correct them or if there is a specialist who could ?
I understand steel was only used for a couple of years 1943 44 ? . So I was wondering if it would be worth tracking down alloy versions for the rebuild. I think they have casting codes E9/731 and E9/600 ?
Just to expand a little on the Catalogue References, the system applied to all WD vehicle contracts and appears to have commenced in the early 1930s. It began at Cat. Ref 1 for each manufacturer and continued consecutively across all models and types. By the end of the war, the large suppliers were well past 300 but not in the case of motorcycles.
In addition to being noted in the master lists, it was shown, along with the contract number on the brass 'contract plate' affixed to the vehicle and stamped on all accompanying vehicle literature. The advantage presumably over simply using the unique contract number was that workshops and units only needed to keep a list relating to the manufacturers of the vehicles they dealt with and not the whole War Office inventory. Additionally, it provided a double-check that the contract number had been read correctly.
It allowed for the issue and use of the correct Spare Parts List, Driver's Handbook and Maintenance Manual. In practice, with the major War Office motorcycles, apart from the changes between Matchless G3 and G3L, it was more a case of evolution and the Spare Parts Lists rarely kept up anyway.
The rivet-counter's route involves a set of vehicle literature, early examples of which will bear the contract number, Cat. Ref and a number denoting the type of publication ( /1 for the Spare Parts List, /2 for the early Driver's Handbook).
There are actually only very small differences between these 1939 / 1940 Norton publications other than the covers and rubber stamps. After REME was brought into existence, the Driver's and Maintenance Manuals changed types and reference again.