Hi everyone, I’m officially the very proud owner of a wd m20 1942, and obviously very interested in finding out if possible, about her history, I have the tank registration, and frame but that’s it ,

email (option): markmayo63@yahoo.co.uk

Your bike has an interesting history. It was used during the landing in Normandy, being one of the first bikes to be sent ashore. Later during the war it was dropped in Arnhem.


Joking... 😁 No, it would be helpful if you could let us know the frame and engine numbers, preferably with pictures. You can always send these pictures to me if you would have problems posting them here.

email (option): wd.register@gmail.com

Rob van den Brink's article on his WD Norton site is well worth a read before getting one's hopes too high. It details what documentation supported a vehicle at the time and what the chances are of it having survived (almost zero)

We can though narrow down the date of despatch, arrive at the original colour and make some fairly accurate assessments about where most were being sent at the time.

https://www.wdnorton.nl/Individual_motorcycle_history.htm

You got me for a couple of sentences,, laugh,, I’ll take some pictures, and forward them to you, jan 👍

email (option): markmayo63@yahoo.co.uk

That’s very interesting, I’ll definitely look into that, thank you , rik

email (option): markmayo63@yahoo.co.uk

Mark has just sent me these pictures.

The engine number (which is also the "duplicated frame number") is WM20.85348 (last number is difficult to read though). This BSA comes from contract S/1048, which was a contract for 15.000 bikes (frame / engine numbers WM20.81818 - WM20.96817). The bike with your engine would have had census number C5118748 on its petrol tank. Factory ledgers are not available for the late war production, but we know from the Receipt Cards that deliveries were due in May 1943, at 2.000 per month, which would mean that your bike (your engine actually…) left the factory in June 1943 (approximately).

The frame number is WM20.66457. We know from the factory ledgers that this bike left the factory on September 3rd 1942, as part of military contract C/12424. This was a contract for 8.000 bikes. Your frame would have had the census number C4702554 on its tank.

email (option): wd.register@gmail.com

Here are some pictures with census numbers that are close to your engine’s census number. The second picture shows some brand new bikes from this contract being rolled out of the Birmingham factory.

email (option): wd.register@gmail.com

And the pictures below show two bikes with census numbers that are close to your frame’s census number. Both pictures seem to be taken in Italy (?) or Greece (?), considering the short sleeves. The bike in the second picture is captured by the Germans.

email (option): wd.register@gmail.com

There’s also another number on the headstock. And there’s a Hellenic Crown next to this number, meaning that your frame once belonged to the (post war) Greek Army. You can find more information about these Greek Army numbers here and here

Hope this helps… 😊

email (option): wd.register@gmail.com

Interesting reading Jan...Ian

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

That’s amazing, I need to read it a couple of times, at least,,, very interesting, and it’s post war duties 👍👍, thank you , jan

email (option): markmayo63@yahoo.co.uk