Needed: Tool boxes for 1947 Model J

What's missing from this photo of Warren's 1947 Royal Enfield Model J? 
A second tool box should go in that triangular space behind the gearbox.

 Readers, can you help a British motorcycle enthusiast in search of some rare parts? 

He wrote this in an email to me: 

"I am restoring a 1947 Model J 500, Royal Enfield, but can't seem to find any of the correct kidney shape tool boxes. Hitchcocks Motorcycles said they do not have those; (they are) plentiful on line, but the '47s were mounted to tabs on the frame, later models were not. So, possibly you know someone who may have a set! My name is Warren Novak, and I live near Sebring, Florida." 

Warren sent along some photos of his surprisingly handsome Royal Enfield Model J. 

He further defined his hopes for it in a post to the Canadian Vintage Motorcycle Group:

"It was stored in a barn in North Carolina for many years. I am attempting to restore it but there are missing parts. I am hungry for information and parts for this motorcycle.  It is a matching numbers motorcycle and well worth the effort to restore. Any help is appreciated."

Please contact Warren Novak at wdgn396@gmail.com 

A closer look at the photo from above. Note the two brackets welded to the frame. They would hold the tool box Warren needs.

To me, he wrote, of the Model J tool boxes he needs:

"The mounting brackets are on the frame! That's the difference from the later models. Nobody can tell me if there are holes in the tool box for bolts to go into it, or are there threaded nuts or Rosans (fasteners) welded inside of the tool box to accept the bolts.

Image from YouTube shows the box Warren needs, held in place by two fasteners through frame brackets.

"I got it from out of an estate sale, where a fella bought several Enfields. I think he felt this one would require too much restoration work. I did get new small tool boxes from Hitchcocks, left hand and right hand, that attach to the handstays. It came with a new piston and rings, which have been installed.

"Need a correct muffler as well. Used is fine. Too expensive from Hitchcocks! Shipping, makes it too much. Could use a kickstand, side or rear.

"As far as I know the gas tank is original, as it wouldn't fit this bike otherwise! Fits the brackets, seat, and very tight tolerances!

"I like to restore old English motorcycles, especially those I rode during the 1960s. I enjoy the Dania Beach Vintage Motorcycle shows, and have won several First Place awards; most meaningful to me is Most Original English Motorcycle for my 1964 BSA Lightning."

Warren learned what he had was a Model J from Graham Scarth of the Royal Enfield Owners Club (UK), who has studied the factory records. Graham told him that it was delivered to the distributor, Whitehall, in New York in March, 1947.

He also learned it was rare. Until he sent the numbers and pictures to Graham there was doubt that his was "a real Model J 500."

More common in 1947 would have been the similar looking 350cc Model G, or, in later years, the 500cc Model J2 (the "2" meaning that, although still single-cylinder motorcycles, they had two exhaust ports and thus a showy muffler down each side).

In 2011, Graham wrote me that "in the immediate post war years, Royal Enfields for the U.S. all went to Whitehall in New York."

His "quick trawl of the database" then showed that 214 Model Js went to Whitehall in 1947. Not many. And who many of these would still exist to donate their toolboxes?

I've rarely seen one. In 2010 I noticed an ad for a battered Model J in Texas. And it had lost its toolboxes.

Warren told me that his research has found only one other 1947 Model J in the U.S., and two in Canada.

"I don't know any Enfield owners, and maybe if I knew a few, I could get more Information on sources of someone who might have an item that would fit my Enfield!" he wrote.

Drop him a line if you can help.

New Himalayan 450 now on U.S. website

Bring on the tough stuff.

 The enthusiastically praised Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 adventure motorcycle is featured now on the website of Royal Enfield North America. 

The website lists a Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) starting at $5,799. The current world of economic uncertainties suggests that this figure may go up soon.

The Himalayan 450 has been on sale for some time now in much of the rest of the world, and some aspects of the website seem dated. An inviting video linked to from the website is a year old, and shows only the previous model Himalayan, introduced in 2016.

The new Himalayan 450 packs a more powerful single-cylinder liquid cooled engine than the previous model, and is a new product with many entirely new features. 

Most noticeably, these include a prominent round Thin Film Transistor (TFT) screen to provide an instrument panel's worth of information, plus navigation. Ride modes. Smart phone connectivity. All the toys, as the salesman used to say. 

Big screen puts you in the picture.

The new Himalayan 450 has six speeds in the gearbox, one up over the earlier Himalayan. Some versions of the Himalayan 450 will offer tubeless tires.

Upside down front forks are another obvious upgrade, compared to the familiar Himalayan 411.

Royal Enfield advertises the Himalayan 450 as "just like the original, but more." In fact, according to the spec sheets, the curb weight of the new Himalayan actually is a few pounds (seven) lighter than the original.

The popular Himalayan 411 remains on the website. Also still on the website is its scrambler version, the Scram 411.

All told, Royal Enfield USA has 12 models on its website: five 650 twins, the three adventure bikes, and four 350s.

They are the Bear 650, Shotgun 650, Super Meteor 650, INT 650, Continental GT 650, Himalayan 450, Himalayan 411, Scram 411, Bullet 350, Hunter 350, Classic 350 and Meteor 350.

The 12 models are spread over "only" three types of motor, but when you multiply the models by the number of colors available on each... wow.

It would seem that Royal Enfield has thought of everything: retro classic Brit bikes, laid-back cruisers, edgy roadsters, adventure bikes, scramblers and a café racer.

Royal Enfield USA website offers something for everyone.

Still something missing?

Well, yes. I'm still waiting to feast my eyes on an actual Classic 650 twin, the powerful retro-Brit standard seemingly available everywhere in the world that I am not.

But I am sure it will not be long now.

In India, where Royal Enfields are made, the Classic 650 twin already appears on the website. So do three other models so far not offered in the U.S.

These are:

The Scram 440 (with a fourth motor size for Royal Enfield!).

The Guerilla 450 (roadster version of the Himalayan 450).

The Goan Classic 350 (a hipster version with ape hanger handle bars).

The website for India drops the Himalayan 411 and Scram 411, suggesting that these models will be on their way out in the U.S. too.

With all these products in the mix, the expression "see your dealer for details" is more true than ever.

Great old Royal Enfield adverts online

 Looking for something else on the Internet, I recently came across Rockers Bike Ads, a "Pre-1980 Database of British Motor Cycle Adverts." 

What a treasure trove for any fan of vintage British motorcycles. 

The extravagant collection of old-timey advertisements introduces itself this way: 

"Rockers Bike Ads is a non-profit resource for Motor Cycle enthusiasts and you're welcome to request free high res copies of the images by using the send ads link at the foot of each image. 

"Put simply this is a searchable database of (primarily) pre-1980 British Motor Cycle Industry advertisements classified by Manufacturer, Year and Product type. All material is sourced from original literature in my personal collection." 

Whose personal collection? Although the website doesn't say so, I suspect the powerhouse behind it is James Robinson, editor of The Classic Motor Cycle magazine and a prolific author of books on historic motorcycles.

I searched the database for "Enfield" and was rewarded with 509 vintage Royal Enfield advertisements to enjoy. 

Searching is a bit tricky: you are warned that the search function looks for exact matches, so don't get fancy. Keep your search keywords simple for best results.

It seems that it will find a 1931 image if you search dates between 1930 and 1932 but, oddly, might not find it if you search between 1925 and 1935! Quirky. Also I am not sure the offer of a high res image on request still stands -- I tried it and never heard back.

An impressive feature of the database is that the source and date of publication accompanies each image. This is a historical research tool at its best.

Paging through all those Royal Enfield advertisements from the past I found a bunch of favorites and some real oddities.

We've seen a photo of that girl in white before!

Image Number 17365 is from Motor Cycling magazine of Nov. 12, 1930, and touts the "FAST!" Royal Enfields in store for the 1931 model year.

This ad is illustrated with an unlikely drawing of an exuberant young woman riding a fast Royal Enfield.

The drawing is total fantasy, but it was no doubt inspired by a Royal Enfield factory photo found on the Hitchcocks Motorcycles website.

Model poses in Royal Enfield photo shoot for its 1931 motorcycles.

Another interesting example: Image 13486 is from Motor Cycling magazine of Oct. 19, 1944.

It features artwork of a gun crew of World War II in action but, in the background is a Bell P-39 fighter plane.

Although shown in RAF livery, the P-39 Airacobra was an American made airplane.

Artillery piece is a 2-pounder anti-tank gun.

Britain ordered hundreds of Airacobras from the U.S., but wasn't impressed with them, quickly passing them along to the Soviet Union. Only one RAF squadron, No. 601, operated the Airacobra, and not for long.

The plane is pretty distinctive, because its engine was behind the pilot instead of in the nose, requiring an air scoop behind the cockpit.

601 Squadron lines up. Note the air scoop behind the cockpit.

Why show this oddball plane rather than a more distinctly British fighter? It's fun to speculate. Maybe just because it's an eye-catching airplane?

The open mobile gun carriage shown in the ad matched no vehicle of World War II I knew of. Members of the Historic Military Vehicle Forum immediately identified it as a 2-pounder gun riding on a portee. 

What is a portee? It's exactly what you see in the ad. In search of a definition I quickly found the very photo that must have inspired the ad artwork.

The photo, in the collections of the Imperial War Museum, shows a New Zealand gun crew in North Africa, on Dec. 3, 1941.

New Zealand 2-pounder gun in North Africa, 1941.
(Copyright IWM E 3734E)

Rockers Bike Ads is given as the source for the book, "Royal Enfield Motor Cycle Advertisements 1906-1966," by David Robinson. The book is available from Amazon. 

The book is an impressive 418 pages. It claims:

"The Royal Enfield edition includes over 400 advertisements, complete with original publication dates and reference numbers tied to the Rockers Bike Ads database. While the company's broader history is well-documented, this collection offers a fresh and captivating way to trace its evolution through two world wars and shifting economic conditions.

"You'll discover how press adverts reflected the economic climate and regulations of the time, such as post-war petrol rationing and the rise of cycle-motors and sub-250cc motorcycles. Early advertisements highlight reliability, while later ones focus on performance and sporting achievements.

"Occasionally, themes like fuel economy and weather protection appear, though actual progress with the latter making few advances due to buyer resistance on visual appearance grounds. These adverts also highlight the minimal changes in fundamental motorcycle design over seven decades.

"Images are reproduced in grayscale, as they originally appeared, but with original full color adverts clearly marked as such."

Other books by David Robinson include collections of advertisements by motorcycle makers Francis-Barnett, BSA, Ariel, Norton and others.

In this video about his book on Triumph motorcycle history, Robinson credits the Mortons Archive (another excellent choice of images) as his source.

He also has collected historical advertisements for such aviation greats as de Havilland, and even RAF recruitment ads, based on a separate aviation database.