Hi,this motor has appeared on ebay 271295816917 the number WM20 219 rings
a bell,im sure this has been discussed before.I cant put my hand on O&M just
now but something stands out with that number
cheers Rick

email (option): richardholt@rocketmail.com

Nice clean looking M20 engine...Being sold by George Wandah, the M24 man...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Frame number 219 is listed in British Forces Motorcycles but that series has engine number starting at 244
?? No mention of engine 219

I suspect that engine no. WM20 219 was a spare unit sold to the War Office.

Frame no. WM20 219 left the factory fitted with engine no. WM20 1879.

Engines WM20 216 and WM20 226 were installed in complete machines sent to Bennett & Wood, as far apart as December 1939 and February 1940. WM20 217 - 225 inclusive are blank, except that the War Office is shown against WM20 221 but none of the usual machine details which point in the direction of a batch of spare engines. Generally at this time it is normal to see 10% spare engines on any WD contract.

The problem here is that whilst the BSA ledgers show that the War Office took a number of machines, there is no corresponding Ministry of Supply contract, nor linked Census numbers which would imply that these fell under the 'Local Purchase' / 'Civilian Impressed' category. Although it's often assumed that private owners were deprived of their vehicles, these were generally factory or dealer stock.

This is my theory:
Crank cases were pre-stamped WM and the number was added later.
After the war, XM models were exported to the government departments in the colonies for urgently needed foreign currency. These exports were made from army surplus including pre-stamped WM crankcases.
Engine No WM20219 could have been fitted to frame number XM20219.
I base this theory on the fact that I have one of these exports. Frame No XM20771 was fitted with Engine WM20771 and consigned to the High Commissioner - Southern Rhodesia on 10 December 1945. The tank has the military cut away on the right hand side, footpegs are steel. When I remove the paint, the bottom colour is army green.

email (option): pvlietstra@gmail.com

I have no details relating to post-war production. These cases do have a government inspector's stamp on showing that they were certainly intended for WD use and had been inspected as a complete engine. Is the Inspector's number '240' ?

Peter, do your cases have any extra stamps on ?

The first WM20 771 (matching engine and frame) was sent to the Staatsbedrijf der Artillerie, Holland on 25/11/1939. BSA obviously thought that there wasn't much chance of that one still being around by 1945/46.

BSA Frame XM20 219 had engine XM20 269.

Engine WM20 771 went to Staatsbedrijf Holland 25-11-1939 and was fitted to frame WM20 771. Are you sure about your engine number? Could you send me a photo of that number?

Henk

email (option): ahum@quicknet.nl

Photos attached. A "B" is stamped below the engine number.

email (option): pvlietstra@gmail.com