Some times called "PREY" by the Germans,could this "PREY" motorcycle have fallen into German hands some where other than France/Belgium,the back ground looks odd for Northern Europe,or could it have been moved by the Germans to another country,it has not got the usual modifications that captured motorcycles have ,pillion seat/tyre pressure markings etc.

Centre speedo, so earlier than May 1940 production. It probably is a BEF machine. I can see no modifications at all.

The caption is not Sütterlin script but I still can't read the location. "Kameraad Sprenger in N. Mars" . (Comrade Sprenger in...?)

The stucco walls with brick architraves could well be France... Perhaps the Champagne region ?

Lots of plated fittings, so probably not even repainted?

The edelweiss probably signifies Gebirgsjager mountain troops.

Rob

He sure looks happy with his bike :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
Maybe better than a NSU kettenkrad ?

Mars is a region in the Ardeche...Perhaps the 1st. Mountain Division was in transit for Operation Felix, the invasion of Gibralter which was ultimately cancelled...Ian

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

It seems to have gas paint on the head lamp but possibly also on the front mudguard. There is at least a colour difference in the position of the front number plate. Horn is mounted at front of frame tube while it usually is mounted at the rear of that tube, strange!
It also has the half circle blackout mask inside! so likely a picture taken shortly after being "conquered".

Probably a 1938 or 1939 machine as it does seem to have the wide toolbox and the double topbolt rear number plate.
Maybe overpainted with KG3 as the toolbox lock has been painted as well!

Still the rubbers on the kick starter crank on the gear change lever.

Nice picture

email (option): wd16h@telfort.nl

Rob, it has separate rather than combination handlebar controls which suggest later rather than earlier.

I suspect that the toolbox locks were painted for a while. This detail is from the well-known 1940 images of Cyril Quantrill on what was clearly still a very new C5109 machine (C4101598).

I did see it does not have the combination levers but this could well have been a replacement so I am hesitant to use those as indicator for built dates.
What may be another indicator for a later bike is that it appears not to have a Ni-Fe battery.

email (option): wd16h@telfort.nl

Blimey Rob. Have you got x-ray vision. :mag: Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Hello Ron,

Clearly an assumption, based on the fact that I do not see anything in white on the regulator.
Most pictures with Nife regulators clearly show the white marking on a dark background.
Of course no certainty this is the original cap on it but being a fairly "new" bike I assume electrics may not have been tampered with, apart from the Horn!!

BTW on the Nife's, I have made a apparently common mistake. Nife is a brand name but the actual metals used in it were Nickel Cadmium !! I am in the process to amend my initial article on it and sent a correction hopefully to be published by the VMCC.

cheers

Rob

email (option): wd16h@telfort.nl

It's very funny that a company would register nife as a brand name Rob. In the past I have worked with both NiFe cells and NiCad cells. NiFe standing for Nickel Iron.

Mark

email (option): pes.sales@btconnect.com

Typing from memory from our involvement with the guy with the NOS original. These NiFe motorcycle batteries were made under license from the "Swedish" parent company by the British Battery Co for Lucas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel%E2%80%93iron_battery

And our lovely repros, thanks to Rob, Arnaud and Jan. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Hello Mark,

I know it sounds strange but the Lucas C105 "Nife" definitly was a Nickel Cadmium battery and "Nife" was definitly a brand name in this case.
I obtained an article written by Scott Atkinson, the first managing director of the Batteries Limited firm (as it was called in the 30ties) in which he also described the confusion about the name and the metal contents of the battery.

The Jungner company started with the manufacture of NiFe batteries in late 1800 and marketed these under the "Nife" brand name.
They developed the Nickel Cadmium version while making/selling NiFe batteries and retained "Nife" as brand name also for the nickel Cadmium batteries as the brand name was well known in those days.

NiFe as Nickel Iron batteries were and are still made so there is no doubt that you worked with both!

My initial article can be found on my website www.wdnorton.nl but it needs to be corrected for this confusion issue.

Cheers,

Rob

email (option): wd16h@telfort.nl

Rob can you post a link to that article. I can't seem to find it? Is it be under "Electrical" ?

Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Thanks Rob that explains some of my anger in my youth.
The expensive NiFe dry cells I purchased were no better than Nicad's with the same bad habits.
I've read up on Nickel Iron Batteries and it's a shame they seem to be all but lost to history.

Mark

email (option): pes.sales@btconnect.com

Hello Ron,

It is indeed a bit difficult to find I will change that in future to be more easy.

It is a pdf file to be downloaded, but the link is somewhere in the text and only visible because it is blue.
This should help https://www.wdnorton.nl/Electrical_equipment_page/Article%20Nife%20C105%20issue%202.pdf

But be aware, this still is the old version in which I made the incorrect remark that Lucas C105 Nife was a Nickel Iron battery instead of a Nickel Cadmium battery.

I will send you the correction I wrote for the VMCC by mail.

Cheers

Rob

email (option): wd16h@telfort.nl