Can anyone tell me what date the change from inter war paint finishes to wartime drab finishes was made?...I believe there was a ministry notification to introduce the change....Ian
There is some information in the Norton Factory records but as the instructions were generally to utilise existing stocks prior to a colour change, the dates may have varied slightly between vehicle manufacturers. The Army Council Instruction regarding the introduction of Khaki Green No.3 was dated 2/2/1939 and it appears that Norton didn't change until four months later.
The standard inter-war "Service Colour" was Deep Bronze Green.
Nortons changed as follows :-
26/10/1938 - "All WD M/Cs Dull Green from this date" - We've been able to confirm that this was a matt version of Deep Bronze Green.
13/6/1939 - "First Khaki solo WD M/Cs" - Based on surviving machines, this was Khaki Green No.3.
Norton SWD Big 4s seem to have continued in Dull Green up until the outbreak of war.
Prior to this, the evidently dull mud coloured India Office machines had been referred to as "Khaki" but from 17/7/1939 they were described as "Matt Brown". This was probably the same colour, but the War Office in the U.K. had stolen the Khaki name for a greenish shade :grinning:
BSA and Norton had a couple of "joint" contracts during 1939. C.3139 dated 14/3/39 for 383 KM20 and 350 WD16H and C.3655 dated 24/5/39 for 1601 each.
BSA commenced C.3139 on 15/4/39 and had completed it by 9th May, except for 1 in July and 2 in August according to the Chilwell records. Norton commenced 10/3/39 and completed by 7/4/39. I think it's fair to say that with the possible exception of the stragglers, these bikes from both factories would all have been Dull Green.
Norton commenced C.3655 on 11th May but didn't change colour to KG3 until 13th June. by which time the first 200 engine numbers from the 1601 had been delivered in Dull Green.
BSA didn't commence delivery of C.3655 until 27/6/1939 so it's quite possible that the whole of the contract was KG3. They had delivered 600 C10s commencing 19/5 though and photographic evidence seems to suggest that all or most of those were Dull Green.
If I was restoring a WD KM20, I think that I would go with Dull Green for KM20 1101 - 1483 and use KG3 for KM20 3001 onwards.
