Friday, March 8, 2013

Royal Enfield WD/CO restoration takes it back to wartime

Here are before and after pictures of the restoration of a wartime motorcycle.
A World War II era Royal Enfield WD/CO motorcycle completes its round-trip journey from how it looked in 1943 to how it looked by 2013 and then back to 1943 in a delightful new video on Vimeo.

It's "Nick and Steve's project," and we watch as they work on the bike from May, 2012 to February 2013.

It is a remarkable transformation. It takes the WD/CO from the civilian appearance it was upgraded to as war surplus back to how it looked in uniform when built.

The two men show their pride in their progress as they go, step-by-step.

Nicely done. It's only a shame that they couldn't have the motorcycle both ways: in wartime dress and with the charming (but downbeat) patina it earned in civilian service.

Take a look at the video:

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous3/08/2013

    Well done guys. I just feel it was beautiful as it was,make it mechanically sound and leave that original condition (oily rag).
    Just my opinion.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous6/15/2013

    Goog job but I think de red color was the original (fire force as many of these Royal E)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous8/04/2013

    Thanks after the war Britain was broke, and many machines were re-sprayed in black and burgundy for the civilian and export market to bring money back into the economy. Many Royal Enfield's was exported and the post war model G was produced by Royal Enfield. There were always places the new spray job missed, I found the original colour at the rear of the gear box. Nick

    ReplyDelete

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