Hi everyone I am after an opinion here I have a 1958 DBD34 which has an engine number that has never been interfered with but the club tells me the fonts are wrong which is probably the case as for the first 10 years of its life the bike was unregistered and only used as a race bike and was first registered in 1968 but obviously being on the track has gone through numerous engines, according to club records the engine did exist bearing the numbers on mine but not attributed to my frame, is it worth the bother getting an unstamped set and stamping with original number and are stamps with the correct fonts available if this is a route I decided to take and would I be braking any laws as it is not ringing as I say I would be willing to have the bike inspected I am that sure of it
If by the original number you mean the number currently on the engine I don't see a problem except I doubt it's worth the trouble and expense. However, if you mean the engine number that was originally attributed to your frame then I can see the being potentially a big problem. Where is that engine now? Is it currently being used and registered in another frame ?
(Sorry for a slightly overlapping response)
I conclude that what you are telling us is that the current engine crankcases do not have a number that are considered not to have been physically stamped by the factory - no matter that those numbers were at some time (according to the Despatch Book) on an engine fitted to a different, to yours, complete machine. You've not said why you approached the club (presumably the machine dating officer); was it simply for a Despatch Book transcript ie out of interest, or a Certificate to use for machine registration?
So, to your questions; (it's not clear to this old fella) would you be proposing to stamp a set of NOS (or otherwise unstamped) crankcases with the number of the engine that was originally fitted to your frame or with the number on your current set of crankcases (but with a more legitimate form)? One danger of the former of course is that the engine or crankcases bearing that number may still exist. For the latter, it would tidy things up of course but, as (perfect)
I'd say that Factory font stamps are not available (even though Prior/Priority brand are very close but even those would probably be discernible to the keen eye).
The identity of any vehicle is, for DVLA related purposes, related to the frame/chassis/monocoque etc only, not the engine.
Perhaps tell us more about what you are trying to achieve.
Paul.
The story that came with the bike including some photo's of original found condition was that, while racing over a 10 year period several engines were destroyed meaning crankcases and replaced with whatever was available if second hand they had a number if new they were blank and replaced with whatever was on the ones being removed and back in the day I do not suppose anyone was bothered about fonts and such an un interfered engine number would have no problem with the constabulary of the time. Also I am pretty sure they would not have changed the crankcases for the sake of it, so probably in fact almost definitely the original crankcases were smashed as so many of that era were so with new cases would I be able to stamp with original number for the original cases and so put the bike back to original. You asked why I contacted the club in the first place it was because I was trying to get the DVLA to declare on the V5 date of manufacture which is 1958 and lose the F suffix on the registration number which they declined so I had to purchase a meaningless six digit number to lose the F, I hope that makes my intentions clearer, Chris
The problem I've found is that (some) club dating officers happily state that the crankcase stampings were not done by BSA (wrong font, size etc) which then throws doubt on the authenticity.
On the other hand, should you be lucky enough to find an unstamped set of cases would it be "right" to stamp the cases and pass them off as original anyway?
It seems you'd be no better off than you are now.
I believe you might call it a QUANDRY!!!!