This entry in the BSA M20 Key cards is a puzzle, any thoughts?

email (option): robmiller11@yahoo.co.uk

With a census, frame and contract number relating to the C10 contract then I think that the evidence is fairly conclusive. I wonder which lucky national serviceman got to ride around on a twenty year old C10?

The numbers aren't quite married but are fairly close, as we might expect from a small 1939 contract.

The contract number has been amended to C3179 which was a KM20 contract but only ran from 1101 - 1483 and C398052 - C398733 so that 'correction' was probably in error.

Does it say on the Key cards that they relate to the M20 or simply BSA ?

At the top of the card it says "BSA 500cc".

I don't suppose you could fit an M20 engine in a C10 frame?

There is some very faint almost rubbed out writing at the end, I wonder if Lex could read it off the original card? (492b)

email (option): robmiller11@yahoo.co.uk

Is that a part that I can't see or do you just mean the 'Sales CVD (Central vehicle Depot) Egginton' ?

Did someone in a vehicle depot pinch an M20 and replace it with a C10 that should have been scrapped ?

It seems amazing that no one noticed it was a C10 when it was issued and fitted with its post war registration plate, and then it wasn't sold off untill 1960?????

email (option): robmiller11@yahoo.co.uk

I am interested! As I have a 39 KC10. But I haven't got a clue what you two are on about.....number crunchers.....You are awfull...but I like you. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

It's quite straightforward Ron, but a puzzle nonetheless.

On a Key Card headed BSA 500cc, in sequence, is 18 ZC 51 but this has a WC10 Contract number (C3739), a WC10 Census number from that contract (C399600) and a frame number which fits the contract (WC10?)3274.

Most remarkably, it wasn't struck off until 1960 ! Did a C10 really hide itself in a row of M20s at Central Vehicle Depot Egginton for most of the 1950s and nobody noticed ?

Was some harrassed Ordnance storeman a bike short and dragged a C10 off the scrapheap ?

See, now you confuse me some more Rik! You now mention WC10 but the the contract and serial number are KC10. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Ron,

I agree with you, that is certainly a bike from the batch of 600 KC10 supplied in May 1939.

I suppose if a C10 or two were languishing in the corner of a vehicle depot somewhere when the new registration system was introduced some harassed clerk might have considered it easier to leave it there rather than move 200 other bikes and 30 mothballed Bedford 3 tonners. And it still would have needed paperwork so it could have been added to the most convenient set of keycards Maybe

email (option): robmiller11@yahoo.co.uk

Could it have been a bit of a special? Maybe for some reason there was a KC10 mudguard fitted and they just read the contract number from it

email (option): davmax@ntlworld.com

maybe it was the depot hack and were told to get rid of it so they just bunged it in with the bsa 500cc lot

There's always the possibility that the odd K/WC10 lingered on into the post-war years as a military workshop instructional tool (eg: REME depots at Arborfield/Bordon, etc) before eventually being disposed of as the military had by that time disposed of anything that the "instructional tool" related to....
I picked up most of a military Triumph TRW in 1988 from a similar source, long after the type had disappeared from WD service........

Hello again to all...contrary to rumour, I am not (yet) dead.....busy at work, big life changes, new woman, etc.....! Hi to Ron, and all "NOB's" I had the pleasure of meeting up with at Pete's Christmas bash.....Steve M

Not THE Steve M. ? Bugger you. How are the bikes ?

Good to see you back Steve. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

i have always wondered what happened to all those TRWs i saw lines of them in a depot think it was ruddington or maybe feltham but not sure now there doesnt seem to be many about were they exported to another army some where

Rik, it is indeed me......

I am a tad busy atm what with work, etc, plus am away most weekends now with my new lady Vidya....a fortunate few have had the opportunity to meet her at Pete's NOBs' Xmas bash....she will be accompanying me to a fair few events this year as another female '40's fan...
Currently little time free to go on line and on the Forum....but I am still around !!!

Glad to hear that you're still on the scene Steve. Have you been riding at all ?

Is Normandy on the itinerary ? Can we expect to see an ATS rider on a WD/C ?

By the way, did you see that my 16H was up and running ? (It's OK, it's Belgium so you don't have to report me for the helmet infringement !)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15kiu43UL48

Haven't ridden since September last year (bikes that is, not horses !)....however, the W/NG will be coming out in the next week for the MoT and am already booked in for a number of events this year...

Haven't yet decided on Normandy...am away mid-June in Cornwall on holiday and need to check on dates surrounding this period...Vidya can ride a bike but hasn't for many years so needs a bit of practice...she's barely 5' tall so saddle height will be a bit of an issue, although she would fit rather nicely into a pannier bag ! :o)

Whilst we are here, my M20 is a '41, making her 70 years old this year, is there anyway we can find out when her actual birthday is? I don't think I ever noted it, I think is May or April?

Frame WM2053388
making it
Contract 11101
C number 4636976
Engine number I dont have to hand..

Thanks

Kit

email (option): kit247@hotmail.com

Kit, both Orchard & Madden and additional researches into Ordnance deliveries show that C11101 commenced at 53413.

WM20 53388 was allocated to an RAF three-wheeler under contract C10655.

RAF deliveries are almost undateable but the preceding WD contract went into 1942.

Reference to O&M seems to indicate delivery between December 1943 - January 1944.

How do you fancy a Christmas trip to Normandy in 2013 ?