hi folks,
Today I purchased a civilian M21 with a sidecar. I'm hoping to make this my daily rider and use my '41 WM20 for sunday rides only. It looks to be complete (minus speedo) and I'm assured it was running a couple of years ago. I am hoping someone could identify the sidecar for me? Although I'm located in Hawaii, the sidecar is set up for left-hand riding. The running light has "made in Australia moulded into the plastic...

Also, it is sporting a Burgess air filter. I have no idea about these filters. Were they an aftermarket add-on or did they come standard on this model? Any tips on getting this to be a reliable runner at 60mph gladly appreciated.

email (option): cas.vanderwoude@gmail.com

The sidecar might be a Goulding, not sure but they might be a US product. The cap on wheel usually has a G cast in it. The body looks very similar to one of Goulding models. The made in Australia light looks a bit like a more modern truck type clearance light but hard to tell from your picture. Interesting you call it a left drive as we in Australia have right hand drive vehicles and your M21 is set up for RHD.

email (option): tknalder@iinet.net.au

Cas said " left hand riding" I'm sure he means, left side of road as in UK and Oz. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Ron is correct - sorry about the confusion.

I just think it's very interesting that a BSA-sidecar outfit that seems to have spent time in Australia has turned up in Hawaii. Who or which group might have the dispatch records? I'd love to know more.

Also, the PO is intensely interested in the Burgess air filter. The only thing I've found about the company is that they may have made air filters for Brit cars.

She arrives at my house today so I'll be able to look over it a bit more carefully. But as far as I can see everything is there except the speedo.

email (option): cas.vanderwoude@gmail.com

Admiralty contract C/S13872 for 100 BSA WB30's list a Burgess filter. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

hi Kim,
I looked through the models on the Goulding web page and it does not quite look like any of those. were there any other Aussie manufacturers? The spring set-up on this looks very graceful and reminds me of how horse buggies were sprung... No G on the end cap.

The thing that has me a little bit puzzled is why and how did an M21 with a UK/Aus sidecar come to Hawaii. My working theory is that it points to either a UK or OZ made rig but why in Hawaii 6,000 miles away?

email (option): cas.vanderwoude@gmail.com

Hi Cas- the only aussie sidecars I am aware of are Tillbrook made in South Australia and Dusting made in Victoria. Both quite different to yours. Bodies can be changed or manufactured but your chassis setup is definitely not Dusting as I have one, the body is mounted on two leaf springs one either side. yours doesn't look like the Tillbrokk either. Dustings of Melbourne (Victoria) are still making sidecars. I think Tillbrook went out of business years ago.

email (option): tknalder@iinet.net.au

sorry for being so "off-topic". It's just that you guys are the brains trust of motorcycles from the 30's and 40's and I respect your opinions more than any other group...

Thanks to Henk and his magic dispatch records, I now know that this M21 was dispatched to J.N. Taylor and Co in Adelaide south Australia in 1949. How it came to be in Hawaii has me baffled though.

One lovely surprise was the levers. Henk tells me these are for very early contracts which my '41 WM20 is, so these will find their way onto that motorcycle or get sold. The bike is very unmolested and I reckon these were original to the bike. Maybe BSA were trying to clear surplus stock by using them on export models. Could that be right? The dispatch records seem to show export bikes were processed separately from domestic models.

The sidecar is still a mystery. Thanks Kim for the help. The only sidecar I can find that looks vaguely similar is an Edmund . In any case, I'll probably put this on my SQ4. Its a rather graceful and a very light outfit.

email (option): cas.vanderwoude@gmail.com

The first B31's after the war used the same levers.
Could they be used for the side valvers as well ?

By the way, you have a serious line up of bikes there, Cas.

Yes those levers are what we usually refer to as BSA pre-war levers and came in 7/8" and 1" and were also fitted to early WD M20/21's They should have a button on the front brake to act as a hand brake for sidecar use. The lever on top of the choke is the valve lifter and the controls would have included a mag lever further down the bar and special horn and dipswitch attached to the backs of each lever. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Fitted to the B31 post war until Aug. '46 but not fitted to the M Series models...Good levers to have though. They do have a high value but are also very nice to use, so I wouldn't rush into removing them...Ian

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

Could it be that the levers with these bare finish are from a batch of postwar replacements?. They tend to turn up now and then in NOS, all with the same bare finish.

Think the prewar and early wartime versions would all have been chrome or cadmium plated...

Well, its a 1949 model so post-war. I believe there was a severe shortage of plating materials after the war and chrome was in very short supply. So it would make sense to use painted rather than plated parts. I have a sneaking suspicion that BSA put left over and odd-ball parts on export models to clear surpluses.

email (option): cas.vanderwoude@gmail.com

The shortage of materials for plating came about during the Korean War (June 1950-1953). It related specifically to Nickel, which was used during the plating process but was also needed for explosives manufacture occurred....

This affected BSA (and I assume other companies)...Ian

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

The directive for the cessation of chrome plating during the Korean war was dated Feb. 1951...Ian

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