That’s a fine looking machine Alwyn. Can you tell us about the restoration and/or its history?
Thanks Dave,
Unfortunately there is not very much history known of the bike except that it was bought new in South Australia c 1948/49. I acquired the bike in 1999 from the guy that did the restoration after seeing the advertisement reproduced here, in the magazine "Just Bikes" - it was featured in colour on the cover of the particular issue and having owned a Mark 3 of the same era as a young petrol-head, I found it just too hard to resist.
The credit for the restoration must go to Greg Burns of Wattle Park in SA. Greg is an engineering draftsman with a penchant for meticulously restoring motorcycles, specialising in Puch.
Greg sourced many of the replacement parts needed for the Douglas through his membership of the London Douglas Motor Cycle Club Limited (of which I am now a member). He visited the Club personally during a trip to the UK. He began the restoration in 1989 or 1990 and completed it in August 1999 - he also completed a number of other restorations during the same period.
Unfortunately, Greg kept no photos before or during the restoration but he has told me the bike was in a pretty poor state of repair when he acquired it. However, the tinware and tank must have been pretty well preserved because no sign of rust or panel repair can be seen beneath the lustrous finish.
Among parts sourced in England were replacement cylinders and cylinder heads - these were originally fitted to a defence forces auxiliary generator or water pump motor and are standard bore. History relates that apart from manufacturing thousands of Douglas motorcycles for UK Forces during WW1 part of the Douglas company's war effort during WW2 was the production of many of these particular 350 cc horizontally opposed twin cylinder motors for various uses by the forces. They were apparently a very reliable unit as a stationary engine.
Since I aquired the bike, it has clocked more than 4000 miles. The only post restoration modification carried out has been the modification of the crankcase breathing system. The original crankcase breather is moulded into the cast aluminium alloy cover over the timing and camshaft gear compartment of the crankcase at the front of the motor the exit of which terminates in a downward facing hole at the base of the casting. This spewed such quantities of oil as to be quite a nuisance, an inherent fault I can well remember contending with on my original Mark 3, c 1950/51, pictured here.
The modification involved plugging the original breather, (horror of horrors, a piece of wooden dowel suffices!) - and the modifying of the oil filler cap by raising it with a 1" diameter m & f brass nipple. See the photograph here.
A copper tube spigot is brazed in to the side of the nipple. A plastic hose is connected to the spigot and in turn is coupled to a flat plastic bottle acting as an oil catcher fitted beneath the toolbox. A second hose from the receptacle breathes engine vapours downward toward the ground.
The modification works quite effectively but I have recently read a report that indicates I have inadvertently stumbled upon a remedy that is not recommended by those who have raced the machines, as they still do at club level in the UK. Reasons were not expounded upon in the report but if you or anyone at all has a comment about this, I would be grateful to receive it.
