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BSA Bantam D7 627 NEV Number 9 out of about 60,475 D7s manufactured  About 25 years ago this motorcycle was purchased for £10.00 to save the BSA castings from the scrap man with only the possible intention of restoring. It appeared to be a Bantam D14 using a 1969 registration. Eventually some restoration started, even swapping the D7 engine fitted for a “correct” D14 one. Much later when down to the last nut and bolt it was discovered to be a D7 and the 9th one built. The engine was reclaimed - still where it had been placed 5 years earlier – and missing parts obtained, in the attempt to restore it to its ex factory condition. Like all good plans it took much longer than originally intended – getting a licence to ride it (it is 175cc) and then a big Honda diversion - but it has now been back on the road for five years. A potentially major problem was that the Bantam no longer had a registration. To obtain one the original build date had to be established. The BSA Owners Club was able to do this from the surviving dispatch records of the old BSA Company. These show it was dispatched in late1958 to G.B.R. Motors Ltd of East Hill in Colchester. Their former showroom has now been bricked in to match the building’s upper floor.  From the Colchester Museum came information on the Essex registration records which are in the Records Office in Chelmsford. Searching the ledgers of the 1958 and 1959 registrations took until the 19th ledger to find the correct record. Using this and other information the Bantam’s original registration 627 NEV, issued on11 February 1959, was reissued. The original registration details show that the first owner of this Bantam was Mr C.A.Oakley who lived in Rowhedge near Colchester. He died about ten years ago. The person, who lives at the address of the original owner now, pictured below, brought the house from Mr Oakley’s estate, and did know him.  164 YTW, the Bantam below this paragraph, was obtained late in 2008, a complete bike with V5 for £10, albeit a non-runner. All I wanted was the speedo for 627 NEV, but it failed after 20 miles! The bike was offered to me some two years previously by its previous owner after he helped push start my bike when it was hot - do any ever start then? It had been in a shed for 35 years but was complete, even with a GB sticker. The owner could not remember why he stopped using it but said that he was never likely to use it again, so I promised to put it back into the Bantam community. Right now it is partly dismantled as I have taken the engine out and am running it in 627 NEV after a gearbox failure. It started with clean petrol, carb and points after as second push start. Amazing!  George Wilder |
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