Ariel Owners Motorcycle Club

My latest project has arrived. So far as I know it is a 1962 Golden Arrow which has not been in use since 2004. The registration date in the V5C is one day after I was born!

It came with a spare engine and I'm still trying to work out what I've got. Apart from some serial number confusion, it looks like a very well preserved bike. The chassis is 'G' but the currently fitted engine is 'A' and the two numbers do not match. Would they have been a match from the factory?

I know the ammeter is a repro and there is a cap missing from the top of the forks. The centre stand spring is also missing. The engine turns over, the gears select and the clutch works. Front brake is a bit apologetic.

It's been fitted with a Drags electronic ignition and has a 12 volt conversion (although it was not started up).

All critical comments from the panel are welcome!

--------------------------
Fitted engine number T-6794-A
Spare engine T-27752-G

Chassis plate
Frame T-24023-G
Engine T-6794-A

V5C matches the engine plate apart from an omitted engine suffix.

Click the link for some detailed photos...
https://barkshire.co.uk/bikes/images/Ar ... nArrow1962

Your projects are significantly nicer than mine Dave. Looks grand.

All two strokes left the factory with identical engine and frame numbers. The engine no is stamped i the conventional place but the frame number only appears on the frame plate that is easily replaced!
Model Year Engine & Frame G'box
Leader 1958-60 T101 A - T17,441 A GB55
Arrow 1959-60 T8,175 S - T17,440 S GB55
Leader 1960-65 T16,708 B – T35,460 B GB55
Arrow 1961-5/64 T16,796 T – T33,998 T GB55
Arrow SS 1961-65 T20,384 G – T35,439 G GB55
200 Arrow 5/64-65 T33,701 H – T35,506 H GB58
Note the overlap of numbers.

So you have an 'early' Leader engine in a Super Sports Arrow chassis. The early and late engines are the same except the later ones have high compression heads and all have the larger inlet port suitable for the SS Arrow.

One previous entry in the register is from 1993, a Stephen Milnes of Parkstone.

Thanks Roger. I think I'll keep the engine that's fitted and see whether I can get it going. If it's a total disaster then I could always try the spare engine.

I've also been in touch with with Gary Waudby who bought it second hand as a teenager in the late 1960s from a dealer in Hemel Hempstead. The previous owner bought it from a widow in Stoke I think in 2014 but it's not run possibly since 2004.