Careful with that wrapping!
Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 8:10 pm
I spent part of the day with Andy today, talking mainly Seagulls and ferreting around his collection of motors and bits.
I went round there primarily to look at his newest acquisition, an OF, and I have to say it's magnificent. The whole engine is in exceptional condition - there is no sign of the normal damaged fasteners and distressed nuts that you would expect on a motor that's more than seventy years old. Everything is there, nothing missing at all, and she fires up beautifully.
The best bit for me is the tank. Every single letter of the decal is still there, completely intact. The tank itself has virtually all its original finish, and even retains one of its original rubber buffers. I would post a pic here, but I'm using my girlfriend's PC and my camera lead is at home. Pix will follow - I'll mail them to John for the main site. ( I was meant to go home tonight but I dropped my the lass off in Ringwood before visiting Andy. She was shopping for a posh frock for a function we're attending in a couple of weeks. The resultant bill has left me with a severe pain in the wallet, and so I'm allowing her to cook for me tonight and pour lots of beer down my throat).
Super afternoon (thanks Andy) and as ever round at his place I learnt something. For instance - did you know that Villiers made a recoil starter for Seagulls? Well I certainly didn't. After close examination of one on a Forty Plus I'm certain that this add-on must have been widely available - after all it fitted directly onto a magneto of their manufacture - so why are there not thousands of them?
Rummaging through Andy's stuff we came upon a bunch of unused Seagull spares he'd bought a while ago, including new silencers - all wrapped up. I'd heard once from a past seagull employee that sometimes spares like silencers were wrapped in promotional material or newspaper; whatever came to hand, and I mentioned this. We unwrapped an aluminium silencer for a short shaft Century, and would you believe it, it came in a 197* poster, complete with colour photos. It's one I haven't seen before, it's in the car at the moment, but again I'll send a copy to John.
I also have photos of Marston pistons with strange (oil control?) rings to post, snaps of Marston blocks that have no fins, and hopefully by next weeks photos of a complete Seagull side mounting kit; it's in daily use on a 1940's gaffer a few miles away.
Bought a Kingfisher this morning before setting out, and have had a thoroughly nice day that I thought I'd share with you all.
I went round there primarily to look at his newest acquisition, an OF, and I have to say it's magnificent. The whole engine is in exceptional condition - there is no sign of the normal damaged fasteners and distressed nuts that you would expect on a motor that's more than seventy years old. Everything is there, nothing missing at all, and she fires up beautifully.
The best bit for me is the tank. Every single letter of the decal is still there, completely intact. The tank itself has virtually all its original finish, and even retains one of its original rubber buffers. I would post a pic here, but I'm using my girlfriend's PC and my camera lead is at home. Pix will follow - I'll mail them to John for the main site. ( I was meant to go home tonight but I dropped my the lass off in Ringwood before visiting Andy. She was shopping for a posh frock for a function we're attending in a couple of weeks. The resultant bill has left me with a severe pain in the wallet, and so I'm allowing her to cook for me tonight and pour lots of beer down my throat).
Super afternoon (thanks Andy) and as ever round at his place I learnt something. For instance - did you know that Villiers made a recoil starter for Seagulls? Well I certainly didn't. After close examination of one on a Forty Plus I'm certain that this add-on must have been widely available - after all it fitted directly onto a magneto of their manufacture - so why are there not thousands of them?
Rummaging through Andy's stuff we came upon a bunch of unused Seagull spares he'd bought a while ago, including new silencers - all wrapped up. I'd heard once from a past seagull employee that sometimes spares like silencers were wrapped in promotional material or newspaper; whatever came to hand, and I mentioned this. We unwrapped an aluminium silencer for a short shaft Century, and would you believe it, it came in a 197* poster, complete with colour photos. It's one I haven't seen before, it's in the car at the moment, but again I'll send a copy to John.
I also have photos of Marston pistons with strange (oil control?) rings to post, snaps of Marston blocks that have no fins, and hopefully by next weeks photos of a complete Seagull side mounting kit; it's in daily use on a 1940's gaffer a few miles away.
Bought a Kingfisher this morning before setting out, and have had a thoroughly nice day that I thought I'd share with you all.