Hi Folks
Just to let you know there's what looks like an ex military 16H on ebay 271237155662 Its currently only about £500. The gearbox is the wrong one but the rest seems gen.
Careful...This is being sold by Rob Reaney...the son in 'Reaney and Son'.
The father was the guy who refused to guarantee the Indian made 16H girder forks he had for sale and got very insulting when I pressed him on that and the 'quality question'. He deals a lot in Indian parts....Ian
The engine has one of those 'B' prefix numbers indicating a Base Workshop rebuild and the 'W' number is a post-factory stamping. The two dots are visible where the brass spare part number was fitted.
I think that the forks look odd because the exhaust isn't Norton and is tight against the timing chest (Velocette silencer ?) If the frame is WD then it's an early one as it has no Field Stand lug and has the shorter gearbox lug casting. I think the downtube looks WD but it could be pre-war civilian from a number of models.
Tool box is postwar. Frame looks to have been very rusty and there is not much else.
You'd really be buying a 16H engine + frame, forks and wheels. If the parts are usable then I'd reckon on about £3500 in parts and services plus a lot of time to get this decent and usable. If you're convinced that any 16H is a £6000 motorcycle then this one might be worth doing but I'd be inclined to look for a project with more of the difficult bits there.
Having looked at the photos I'd say no 3 parts belonged to the original bike as found, it looks like someones found the frame in a canal and then waited till enough bits turn up to make it look like a bike. Then assembled by someone with only rudimentry knowledge of what it should be.
I especially distrust the recent Hammerite paint job, as said a lot of rust there, it'll be rusty inside as well and pretty thin tubes.