Ariel Owners Motorcycle Club

My VCH had red on timing cover, don't remember the crankcase as I used matt black on it many years ago.

I went to the members area and looked at a few catalogues. The timing covers in the 1957 catalogue show red paint. It looks bright red, not maroon. I know that pictures in the sales literature are not reliable, but I doubt they would have added the extra red if it hadn't been there in the original. In prewar catalogues there is no red on the cover. But that could be due to printing limitations.

Again, I might, just possibly, have seen the remains of red in the "ARIEL" on the crankcase but never enough to suggest it was anything standard. I did wonder if the climate in the UK might have been more inclined to remove paint from the castings than the climate in Australia but it does seem that you have had your fair share of climate in Australia recently !!

Thanks to everyone for the advice - consensus seems that for UK bikes at least, the best option is to leave it unpainted. That's how it's been for the last 50 years, so that's how it stays.

Hi all,
Apart from the color of the script on a Mk1 timing case (mine appears to be a maroon) has anyone wondered as to why the script has both upper and lower case letters in it? I may have missed past conversations about the reasons. Probably many conversations I suspect or is it in an Ariel legend of some sort?
Dennis

I only know that mixed-case fonts are not that unusual.