hi all, not knowing much about the 16H, on war department bikes what letter would the frame number start with, i assume it would be a W, what about numbers beginning with A?
thanks barry

email (option): mrsbfuller@hotmail.co.uk

Hi, have a look at the WD Norton site al the info is there!!!

regards,

Bram

Wartime generally W prefix, there may be some early exception which Rik or others could clarify (or may be outlined on the wd16h.nl website).
Post war Norton prefixed their numbers with a letter todesignate the model year. A = 1946, B = 1947 etc up until 1960 from memory. Manufacturing for a model year is supposed to have started in Sept of the previous year.

Pre-war (or more correctly, until the last pre-war contract was completed in late 1939), numbers were simply taken from the civilian sequence. Wartime WD16H production always had a 'W' prefix but for a period, spare engines began 'AS' and are listed in the ledgers as Army Spares so this is probably the meaning.

As Iain correctly says, 1946 production began with an 'A' year code. These will always be cradle frames and the engine is of the enclosed valves type (I believe that the only open-framed Norton produced post-war was the 500T)

the bike im interested in is dated 1946, i do have both frame and engine numbers and the engine number starts with "W". i dont want to advertise the numbers to every one as its not fair on the owner but can i email some one the numbers to get more info on the bike?
barry

email (option): mrsbfuller@hotmail.co.uk

Barry, I'll happily have a look at what you've got. It 'sounds' like an ex-WD engine in a 1946 frame (this was the last year with girders). Mail me the numbers and I'll see what I can find.

email (option): 79x100@gmail.com

Hi there
If this is the yellow one from Burma that's for sale on ebay then I concur. 1946 civilian frame and cycle parts, wd engine. If its not that one forget this post