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-----Original Message-----
From: Jan R. Smith/Patricia A. Trooien <smittro@wichita.infi.net>
To: Military Vehicles List <mil-veh@uller.skylee.com>
Date: 10 January 2000 23:06
Subject: Re: [MV] BSA airborne bicycle survival rates
>
> According to a book I have, the BSA M20 motorcycle was produced in even
>greater quantities than the Harley-Davidson WLA; some 126,000 M20's were
produced
>during the WWII years. This compared to some 80,000 or so WLA's. Do you know
of
>any M20's available for restoration? Sincerely, Jan
>
In actual fact there were 425,000 mil motorcycles produced in the UK during the
war years of various types by BSA, Ariel, Matchless, Norton, Triumph and
Velocette, the additional contribution by both Indian and H-D is relatively
small.
It is easy to get a historical skew on these things with Hollywood and the
statistical weight of numbers in the US playing their part, this list is, as may
reasonably be expected, mostly US and dealing with US types almost exclusively.
The position is further exacerbated by the supply industry now apparent in the
US where parts for most standard US types are available just a phone call away
and this has an effect on channelling the attention of the would-be restorer.
Even here there is nothing like the availability of parts for British vehicles
like that we see in Supply Line and its an uphill struggle often to winkle them
out from the various shows and flea-markets, understandably more daunting from
thousands of miles away. Pre Dunkirk types are even more difficult, there were
some 120,000 vehicles lost between Norway and Dunkirk, excluding motorcycles.
The unusual US vehicle types (largely COE) supplied to the French contract 39-40
are rarely seen here although deliveries were diverted to the UK/USSR as France
had fallen by then, these can never return owing to the Lend-Lease restrictions.
The immediate post-war domestic situation didn't help the collector/restorer
here with surplus types sold off cheaply to civvy use in order to re-start a
virtually bankrupt economy, they were often crudely modified and invariably run
into the ground until easy spares supplies dried up before scrapping or left out
of the way to rot. The pool of once common types is surprisingly small.
Armour, apart from the many Universal Carriers used as farm tractors, has no
civilian use and was fed back into the furnace or used as a target by the mil,
some still are.
Its a dedicated and brave person that takes on anything British of W.W.II
vintage so far away and to be highly commended. Better look out those long lost
Whitworth and BSF wrenches. . . . . . . . .
Richard
(Southampton UK)
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