old photos dont lie

[micktailor]

Hi all,
this is a photo of a 1954 bike show in adelaide,.... looks like u were right Leejm, crank cases look pretty polished here on the vh.
what u would give to have a time machine and non- inflation adjusted bank account

[micktailor]

adelaide 1954

[david.anderson]

Crankcases look polished to me also but what about the front brake plate. It is not chrome when you look at the fork seal holders, brake actuating arm, rims etc and it is not the same as the hub.
The seat has white piping, but also appears to have piping around the bottom that matches the seat colour. The seat colour is? Possibly the same as the bike.
Just gotta love period photos.
David

[Eero.Korhonen]

Nice pic!
Br, Eero

[adrie.degraaff]

It's a known fact that Ariels on shows where nicer and some where faster than standard, a friend had a 1957 NH of a dealer show stand wich wich you could testride, it was at least 10km/h faster than "of the shelve" models.

[Leejm]

My vha was completely the same as the one in the photo even the chrome tank. Unfortunately my tank was badly pitted dented and leaked. So for ease I painted the whole tank. My seat is the same but it didn't have any piping around the bottom edge. Which the one about does seem to have. The brake plate on my was chrome too!

[micktailor]

Yeah, my kh(a) came with a chrome brake plate too
and i saw a disscussion on here about wether the headlights were black or bike colour as well, both of them in this photo are the bike colour, but ive also seen photos and drawings in ariel brochures from that period that had black headlights.... which leads me to think maybe u could get either at the time, maybe same with brake plates .?
what did u use to seal the tank leaks please Leejm?

[Leejm]

Weld! Mick. And you can't always trust the brochure pictures. The lower tank lines stop at the knee pad but on the brochure pictures they continue to the end of the tank. And they have black headlights. Mine was blue and over the past year many original photos have come to light that all show blue headlights. Unfortunately the blue was never popular and many biked were repainted mine was one. But fortunately all the original paint was still there hiding underneath. So remember gents before blasting all the parts take a good look first before all evidence is gone! I think when people come to repaint there bikes they look at the brochure and believe the headlight should be black but blue is the correct answer. Davids square was originally a police bike so could very well be different. People on here was shocked that my seat was blue. But more bikes have come up with the same matching seat too since. Mine was ordered from the factory with a dual seat. The parts books says state colour but doesn't say what colours are available. There is much evidence now to say blue is 100% correct.

[adrie.degraaff]

My vha was completely the same as the one in the photo even the chrome tank.

The 1957 of my friend went to the English rally where the judges of the nicest Ariel thought it had to much chrome so he didn't get first prise , but it was totaly as sold new.

[Leejm]

I think now we all alot wiser and not all bikes were built the same.