“It became obvious that the previous owner had already started to overhaul parts of the engine, have various bits replated and to accumulate a few new parts.”
This 1939 Matchless G3 was acquired by me in a fully dismantled condition in September 2016, knowing I would not be able to make an immediate start on the restoration. I realised this presented an opportunity to get the jobs I couldn’t do myself completed in good time.
Duly, the magneto and dynamo were straightway dispatched to Dave Lindsley for a complete overhaul and were returned in due course complete with a JG regulator. The wheel rims were the original Palmers, so were replated at Prestige Electroplaters, and the centres were painted and lined by the late Clive White of Rapier Paintwork in Hull. Clive also painted the front hub.
Next, the paint was stripped from the fuel tank and it was taken to Andy Mawrey for repair, etching, rustproofing and pressure testing, before going to Clive’s for painting. The tank is almost certainly not the original because five out of six of the 1939 models had instruments in the tank. I decided that the tank would be painted black with a red panel, gold lines and metal ‘Flying M’ badges. Painted up thus, it looks splendid.
The original Lucas headlamp shell confirmed the ‘instruments in tank’ theory by having no instrument holes, but was in very poor condition anyway. I bought a replica Lucas
