Historical records from the factory

[Mark G Montague]

Evening all. Does the club have historical records of the bikes built, so if for example I could give my frame number engine and gearbox number and see if all originated from the same bike. My bike was never sold to me as matching numbers but all three numbers seam to orginate from 1950, and curiosity is getting the better of me, and would like to know. Also would this data let me know its orginal registration number ? Thanks Mark

[Simon.Gardiner]

Mark:
The AOMCC does have records of Ariels built (as do the VMCC and Drags) - these are the records from the factory Dispatch Books. (There are various references to these on the Forum.)
Frame and engine numbers can be verified, but as I understand it not specific gearboxes.
These records also show the original destination of the machine. When all vehicle registrations were done by local offices it was possible to link frame and engine numbers with registration numbers by using the details held by the local office that was concerned with the allocation of the original number. These details weren't captured when vehicle registrations were computerised, and over time most of the original records have been lost or destroyed. There are a few archives remaining, the best source of information on what is still available that I know of are the listings compiled by the Kithead Trust.
https://kitheadtrust.org.uk/trace-a-registration-mark

(And with admin hat on, topic moved out of 'help with the Forum' to a more appropriate 'help from the Forum' area.... )

HTH

SG

[Mark G Montague]

Thank you

[Roger Gwynn]

As keeper of the club's register of machines I may have some earlier history of your machine in any case I would like to add what you know about the bike to the register. Dates of ownership, names of owners with town or postcode, engine/frame/gearbox numbers