BWY 216 1937 NG

[SEDoan]

Recently I bought a project 1937 NG with registration number BWY 216. The seller bought the bike in Dublin in the 1980s but the number was a from a British county and tells me that Ireland used British registration numbers until about 1984. The bike has been in North America since about 1990. I did the online DVLA search which shows no record. It looks like old, unused registration numbers can be used on rebuilt bikes so this number is available for another Ariel presumably. I'm really not sure how the British registration system works so maybe I've got this is all wrong! Thought it would be interesting anyway.
Can anyone give more history about this bike?

[Simon.Gardiner]

(Note that the last two letters in the three-letter 'classic' registration numbers denote the geographical area.)
Kithead Trust:
WY series allocated by West Riding of Yorkshire. Looks like some archive records might still exist, either held by West Yorkshire Archive Service or the Trust themselves. Should anyone want to try and dig a bit deeper!
https://kitheadtrust.org.uk/england-wales#WY

From 'old classic cars' website, BWY was used in a series from May 1937 (and again from August 1962).
https://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/registrations/wy.htm

The old unused registration numbers that can be allowed have to be 'never used' , the UK registration folks pick them from series of numbers that weren't allocated in the first place.

(Frame and engine number details could be useful to those with access to certain archive records..... )

SG

[SEDoan]

Thank you Simon. I sent you a private message.

[paul.jameson]

If you PM me engine and frame numbers I can tell you which dealer it went to, when, and what the specification was.

[SEDoan]

Will do! Already got Bennett working on a factory cert too.

[Roger Gwynn]

Not surprising there is no record in the register for that number, there may be under the engine and frame numbers.

[SEDoan]

Roger, I sent you a PM.