Judging by this twist grip, I think it's safe to say we are more concerned about the paint jobs on our bikes than the guys who were painting them back then :-) It's a full length 16H twist grip and it's for sale. 50.00 USD, has a few frays, rusty ferrule and original paint!!!!!
army regulations stated that anything to be painted a 4" paint brush must be used this is why everything get painted
email (option): roger.beck@node6.com
So to be "correct" all the rivet counters bikes should be painted with a 4" brush!!
Excellent, thats made my day!
Yes, it shouldn't be forgotten they were properly sprayed at the factory when manufactured and I suspect at major REME workshops during rebuilds when the bikes were stripped apart....
Brushed finishes and the 'all over squirt' with a spray gun were probably employed just to 'freshen them up' between major overhauls or for a 'theatre change'...
I remember watching them respraying all the Royal Marines vehicles from Olive Drab to Desert Sand on the parade ground at the main barracks in Plymouth prior to the Gulf war...
An Army signwriter I met told me they applied grease over all the bits they didn't want sprayed (saddles, headlamp glass, tyres etc.) and then cleaned this off with paraffin after the new coat of paint had dried...
Personally I have never noticed a photo of an 'in service' bike with painted tyres or saddle cover etc. and a painted headlamp wouldn't be too practical at night....Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com
I am often laughed at when I tell folk about the Pride and Clark M20s I used to see in the mid 60s that had had everything painted green, tyres. chains, saddles everything obviously just had paint slapped on.
Today army is not that of the end of conscription army of the 60s; probably these bikes where given to squaddies to give them something to do; most likely they were guys who may well have been bored stiff and had no interest at all in bikes in or out of service.
Corporal said "paint these bikes/lorries tanks whatever heres a brush and a gallon of paint jump to it."
Has no one here unpacked NOS spares from Chilwell or the like to find a repack label inside? what was the point of un wrapping and repacking small bearings for a machine not even on the strength anymore?
It gave the blokes something to do and enabled the necessary paper work to be moved around.
The hardest thing for todays restorer is to get into the mindset of the 1950s, well, unless you were there, and some of us still are.
write out, in indelible pencil, form M/cM20, for the use of, 100 times[in triplicate] In 1960 my M20 was just a junk old bike. .
In the 1960s they were being dumped in landfill at a site near Windsor.
probably freshly painted.
When I was in the RAF, over 30 years ago now, the MT section built-us two replacement lightweight Land-Rovers from second-hand and new parts..............
They did a pretty good job although the canvas on the rear was ex-RAF NOS blue-1960s.................
MT simply aimed a spraygun at the whole lot with a token amount of masking tape applied............NATO IRR Matt Green was applied to everything......canvas, seat cushions, tyres, dashboard, steering wheel, etc....................
about disposing of vehicle the first unit I went to were starting to dispose of the Austin champs with my help and other squaddies they were put in the workshop new gearbox engines suspension tyres they changed what ever they thought needed changing with new parts we then took them to a supply depot(Nottingham ?) which was taken over by a civilian driver and stacked in lines sometimes just ramming one into another we watched this happen while waiting for new land rovers to take back to our unit
email (option): roger.beck@node6.com
This is the reason I prefer a 'factory type finish' when restoring my bikes..I don't really want to have a crap paint job..
...Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com