05/06/2022
"PART 7 - BSA S29-19 and S30-19 OHV 493cc 2 Port Light - Period items in chronological order".
Seeing as I'm posting in chronological order of how these aspects of Arthur occurred, the next mementos I have of Arthur's journey to Aussie from BSA in Small Heath includes the April 1932 photo below of the 2nd and 3rd owners on the BSA.
In 1931, Reg Ormes (older brother to Artie Ormes who became the bike's 3rd owner) bought ‘my’ BSA S29-19 2nd-hand from Bennett & Wood, the BSA dealers in Sydney, New South Wales. Reg rode it the 600 miles (960 km) North to Brisbane, Queensland, later that same year over the [then primarily gravel] State Highways in New South Wales.
Bennett & Wood's Inventory Records apparently have been lost, sometime during the Company's long, slow demise (e.g. de-listed in 1962; taken over by LNC Industries in 1976; and totally gone by 1984). Consequently I've not (yet :-) been able to find the original first owner of the bike in Sydney, but I'm hopeful in time I will do.
The photo below shows Reg Ormes (in the saddle) and Artie Ormes (on pillion), preparing to leave Brisbane to ride the bike South to Sydney from Brisbane [and return] in April 1932, to be among the first to motor across the brand new & just opened Sydney Harbour Bridge.
This was a 1200 mile (2000km) round trip, following which the bike was in daily use in and around Brisbane for the next couple of years
In 1934 Artie Ormes bough tthe bike off his brother Reg, and rode it 600 miles (960kms) North from Brisbane to Mackay, Queensland. Artie replaced the acetylene lighting with a battery powered electric set.
NOTE: I retained this same lighting setup on the bike when restored including an old acetylene headlamp body similar to the one in the 1932 photo, but converted to 6V electric light configuration.
In 1935 Artie fitted a sidecar, and the outfit was ridden back South to Brisbane from Mackay, over the [primarily rough gravel] Highway 1 of the time. It was then used daily in Brisbane for the next 2 years, before again making the trip North to Mackay sometime in 1937.
Between 1937 and 1945 the BSA outfit was in daily use as Artie’s only vehicle (he told me he did all his courting on it :-), until he bought a Morris 8 car in 1945 at the end of WWII. He was lucky to not have the bike appropriated for WWII use, probably because it was by then considered too old.
NOTE: My Father's 1938 Levis was taken "for the War effort", for use as a despatch rider's machine. When my Dad enquired after it post-1945, he was told that the bike had been abandoned somewhere in the Western Sahara, during the many skirmishes involving Aussies vs Rommel's Afrika Corp.
Artie's sidecar was sold around 1947, and the bike then ridden only sporadically until 1958, when it was finally de-registered and laid up in Artie’s garage. The 1958 QLD (Queensland) Registration Label was on the bike when it became mine. The label was by then stuck to the perspex cover of the label holder, so I mounted it on a block of wood for posterity.
By 1972 when I became just the 4th owner of the old BSA, it was stored in Artie’s garden shed, and though rather worn and weary, it was then still absolutely complete.
NOTE: Against the very wise advice of my Dad I immediately pulled the bike apart to "fix it up", a state it then remained in for some 28 years until 1990, when I returned to QLD from NZ to crate up the old bike and bring to New Zealand.
In 1976 before I travelled to tour Europe and the UK with a good mate, I "mocked up" the old bike in our family's back garden, fully intending to chase up parts (and skills) while in the UK to restore the bike on my return.
Of course life's never that simple and in 1985 I didn't return to QLD but having met a Kiwi in London, came to live in NZ. The bike then languished a further 5 years before I took a trip to QLD in 1990 to ship it to NZ so I could restore it.
