Needed: Tool boxes for 1947 Model J

What's missing from this photo of Warren's 1947 Royal Enfield Model J? 
A second tool box should go in that triangular space behind the gearbox.

 Readers, can you help a British motorcycle enthusiast in search of some rare parts? 

He wrote this in an email to me: 

"I am restoring a 1947 Model J 500, Royal Enfield, but can't seem to find any of the correct kidney shape tool boxes. Hitchcocks Motorcycles said they do not have those; (they are) plentiful on line, but the '47s were mounted to tabs on the frame, later models were not. So, possibly you know someone who may have a set! My name is Warren Novak, and I live near Sebring, Florida." 

Warren sent along some photos of his surprisingly handsome Royal Enfield Model J. 

He further defined his hopes for it in a post to the Canadian Vintage Motorcycle Group:

"It was stored in a barn in North Carolina for many years. I am attempting to restore it but there are missing parts. I am hungry for information and parts for this motorcycle.  It is a matching numbers motorcycle and well worth the effort to restore. Any help is appreciated."

Please contact Warren Novak at wdgn396@gmail.com 

A closer look at the photo from above. Note the two brackets welded to the frame. They would hold the tool box Warren needs.

To me, he wrote, of the Model J tool boxes he needs:

"The mounting brackets are on the frame! That's the difference from the later models. Nobody can tell me if there are holes in the tool box for bolts to go into it, or are there threaded nuts or Rosans (fasteners) welded inside of the tool box to accept the bolts.

Image from YouTube shows the box Warren needs, held in place by two fasteners through frame brackets.

"I got it from out of an estate sale, where a fella bought several Enfields. I think he felt this one would require too much restoration work. I did get new small tool boxes from Hitchcocks, left hand and right hand, that attach to the handstays. It came with a new piston and rings, which have been installed.

"Need a correct muffler as well. Used is fine. Too expensive from Hitchcocks! Shipping, makes it too much. Could use a kickstand, side or rear.

"As far as I know the gas tank is original, as it wouldn't fit this bike otherwise! Fits the brackets, seat, and very tight tolerances!

"I like to restore old English motorcycles, especially those I rode during the 1960s. I enjoy the Dania Beach Vintage Motorcycle shows, and have won several First Place awards; most meaningful to me is Most Original English Motorcycle for my 1964 BSA Lightning."

Warren learned what he had was a Model J from Graham Scarth of the Royal Enfield Owners Club (UK), who has studied the factory records. Graham told him that it was delivered to the distributor, Whitehall, in New York in March, 1947.

He also learned it was rare. Until he sent the numbers and pictures to Graham there was doubt that his was "a real Model J 500."

More common in 1947 would have been the similar looking 350cc Model G, or, in later years, the 500cc Model J2 (the "2" meaning that, although still single-cylinder motorcycles, they had two exhaust ports and thus a showy muffler down each side).

In 2011, Graham wrote me that "in the immediate post war years, Royal Enfields for the U.S. all went to Whitehall in New York."

His "quick trawl of the database" then showed that 214 Model Js went to Whitehall in 1947. Not many. And who many of these would still exist to donate their toolboxes?

I've rarely seen one. In 2010 I noticed an ad for a battered Model J in Texas. And it had lost its toolboxes.

Warren told me that his research has found only one other 1947 Model J in the U.S., and two in Canada.

"I don't know any Enfield owners, and maybe if I knew a few, I could get more Information on sources of someone who might have an item that would fit my Enfield!" he wrote.

Drop him a line if you can help.