Matching engine & frames numbers are generally found on bikes that were sold unused at the end of the war.
Mine wm20-78096 does not appear in the registrar .
I was told that the UK dumped a lot of surplus bikes into OZ in order to get some foreign currency.
We cerinally never ordered the hundreds of Corgies that were sold in Melbourne, & I doubt we ordered all of the LE vollos either.
After we pulled the troops back from Europe to defend OZ relationships between the Aust DOD & the UK wen very sour so we mostly bought Indians from the USA as the UK refused to allow their factories to supply OZ till after Hitler was defeated .
We have been exporting them back to the USA ever since .
And reading through this entire thread again , there was also A Victoria Barracks in Paddington Sydney.
In fact it is till there .
Don't really know what it is used for other than court marshals.
When I had the courier business, on of my customers had the contract for transcribing court marshals so I would turn up there every siting day at 3:05 precisely to pick up the tapes then in the morning drop off the transcriptions between 5:45 & 5:55 .
Big poo fight should I be more than a minute late .
They often held them over the Chrismass / new year period when a lot of the regulars were on leave so yes I did do the occasional run on the WM20 .
Baz
Rob
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2143582?image=165
email (option): robmiller11(a)yahoo.co.uk
Mine wm20-78096 does not appear in the registrar .
I was told that the UK dumped a lot of surplus bikes into OZ in order to get some foreign currency.
We cerinally never ordered the hundreds of Corgies that were sold in Melbourne, & I doubt we ordered all of the LE vollos either.
After we pulled the troops back from Europe to defend OZ relationships between the Aust DOD & the UK wen very sour so we mostly bought Indians from the USA as the UK refused to allow their factories to supply OZ till after Hitler was defeated .
We have been exporting them back to the USA ever since .
90332 77999
90213 78013
90446 78017
90443 78020
90407 78026
90313 78033
90365 78034
90442 78035
92607 78043
92583 78045
39918 78050
92595 78056
92605 78067
92593 78076
92599 78082
92592 78083
92586 78098
92597 78107
92606 78112
92596 78121
92584 78135
92601 78141
92598 78164
92588 78172
92585 78173
92602 78180
92591 78195
92589 78270
I wonder if all the machines sent from the UK at that time went into this "Military" system, and does it include vehicles passed to the Royal Australian Air Force, Royal Australian Navy and other needy services such as the Police, Civil Defence, Post Office who were unable to make replacements through the usual peace time system?
Rob
email (option): robmiller11(a)yahoo.co.uk
Thanks Rob, that link didn't work. I'll see if I can get on the site and search for that page. Baz
email (option): binnawan@iinet.net.au
Found that Rob. Interesting it was in Western Australia and still is. It was sold on to local dealer Mortlock Bros (Mortlock Suzuki)
email (option): binnawan@iinet.net.au
I am the 3rd owner
The second owner told me the first owner bought it brand new at a post war surplus auction and did all of the modifications ( 250 Empire Star chrome tank & wheels, deluxe chromed damper knob he had the fork links, foot brake & front engine plates all chromed as well .
I found the Sloper deluxe steering damper knob and made the long rack , otherwise the bike is as I got it .
IT is weird that such a low number would still be unused at the end of the war though .
I have come across a few with close numbers over the years that also have matching numbers.
If it had been bought in the 60's to 90's then I would have suspected it was a new machine, kept for back up as we did not retire all of the WM20's till 1974.
I did download all 25 of the ledgers and went through them several times just to be sure I had not missed it.
Not a total waste of time as I did find the 3 B40's I bought in the 82 & 84 and the landlords Indian.
The landlord found several vehicles his father / grandfather bought for use on their farm .