Well the bike was delivered to me as you see in the basket case pictures. However the engine had been professionally rebuilt a few years previously, and just required the repair of about fifteen fins on the heads.

I had pictures of the bike before it was stripped and I could see that quite a lot of it had gone missing. With the help of suppliers in Germany (jurgen), USA (Greer’s) and UK (Calvin), all the missing and correct military parts were sourced. Including anything mechanical, such as wheel bearings, brake shoes, spindles, bushes, nuts and bolts etc.

I stripped and rebuilt the rear suspension units. I welded, repaired and sprayed all the frame and tin ware myself in ‘American Light Olive Drab’.  The generator was overhauled and an authentic wiring loom supplied by Paul Buchan, which was quite easy to install. Calvin Jones did me proud on a few bespoke, unobtainable items that he makes himself.

The restoration was undertaken for a friend of mine who ultimately had a rich Polish collector who wanted it (apparently he also owns a castle).

My hobby is collecting and restoring WW2 British forces vehicles and motorcycles and I’m in my element with these. Apart from my 741 that I restored some years ago, I have never taken on such a strange and challenging project, helped not least by Calvin who was very patient with my numerous phone calls for advice.

Ron Pier