Dating an Ariel with no engine number

[malbegg]

Hi
I have a new 500cc sv Ariel engine which was bought 50+ years ago for a project which was to build a £20.00 Camm car dated 1938,but was never used, their is no number on the engine and has never had one,I have lots of other numbers, piston ,con rod,timing case and flywheel but searches have not given a difinitive answer,how do I date such an engine.
Thanks

[Roger Gwynn]

Without a number you cannot date it except by the features that changed over time. Is it a new new engine or just new to you? It couldn't have been new in 1970, 50 years ago. Wait a minute a 500 sv must be 1939 or 1940. There are no differences unless you have the rather rare W/VA engine which can be distinguished by have a cylinder liner.
My VA was stripped to use the engine in a hovercraft! What is a Camm car anyway?

[malbegg]

Roger
The engine is new,it still has wax inside the piston,I got the engine and several other parts as the guy was going to build what was known as the £20.00 Camm car ,it was a wooden three wheel car built from ash,2 wheels at the front 1 at the back,the engine was a Burney & Blackburne 350cc SV, Gearbox was to be a Albion with clutch 3 speed with reverse, 2 xSidecar wheels for the front and a motorcycle wheel for the rear.The floorboards was made from Deal.I have the drawings for the car and the albion gearbox which I believe is also new as I had to clean the wax from the outside casing,Their were several articles written in the Practical Motorist 1936 in March april May and June about this car but I do not know if their ever was one built?

Why do you think the Ariel engine has no number,and it has not been ground off!

[Roger Gwynn]

Only if the crankcases were supplied as a spare part would they not have a number on, it was expected that the old number would be transfered but of course many people didn't bother. When engines were supplied as a complete assembly the would usually be numbered or should I say that there are plenty in the despatch books listed as replacement engine, however this may only apply to those supplied under warranty but it would make sense that all engine assemblies would, be numbered. Perhaps your engine was built up by someone not at the factory.
Interesting as the 1939-40 VA is a pretty rare machine, I have records of 13 out of 380 built, which isn't a bad survival rate.