Hello all,
Bought cheap back in 76 as a running wreck in daily use. Broken alloy guards, dents everywhere, aftermarket bits lashed on with string etc and covered in house paint! still it had matching numbers which was something.
Every part was bent and butchered. The irony was that an elderly chap up the road ran an early A7 SS swing arm which was tatty and oily but in unmolested nut original condition and ran like a top, reckon I was inspired not realising what a heap I'd bought. It's been a long haul and has been under a cover for 15 years with an engine rattle, time to get things sorted.
There's a fuzzy little pic taken in 1960 of an export A7 in the Gold Portfolio book which was my inspiration. I think the export bikes are the nicest looking things BSA ever did. Had to replace a lot of parts bar the original dented tank and the frame which had to be straightened with various holes welded up.....it really was on it's last legs in the days before the restoration scene really got going.
