One for Per

[allspeed]

Now its fairly widely excepted that Candy Orange Fs1es went up to 394-17500 and were then Purple.
This is what i believed but Funkymoped has always said he knew of two bikes of a known history that were much earlier than that.
So today i went to the mayday Hastings Bikefest,there were 3 Fizzys present but this one took my eye.
Its almost 100% original,down to its skinny seat,genuine exhaust and muddys and original type rims.The only thing not original was the left mirror and the front bacon slicer had been removed and later indicators fitted(more of them later though as the fitment itself has throws up some questions.
I hung about for ages till i found the owner and yep the bike had been brought by the owners Father new for his Brother,it was subsequently passed to his two sisters on their sixteenth birthdays and saw plenty of use but no bodging or crashes,hence its originality.

The owner also spoke to the selling dealer who confirmed he had a picture of this actual bike new for sale outside his shop along with four others,all in Purple.This is soon hopefully to be copied.
So this Bikes history is clear ,provable and genuine.
But check out the chassis number,much earlier than 17500 and with the other four bikes being sold in purple at the same time pretty much disproves the changeover point between Gold/orange to Purple.



And

Its of course matching numbers and was resurected in November from its shed,a new piston fitted through standing and Mot tested and back into use.
Would you restore it he said to me? No i fooking wouldnt i said,its a time capsule and for all its warts and rust and had been ridden for best part of two hours by its owner to get to the venue.The poor ped was vacuming and had to be ridden with cap off and consequently there was petrol everywhere.
I really hope it just get maintained and kept as it is,there are plenty restored bikes but originality is what marks this ped out.All i would do it fit some proper period style rubber as this bike has quite a mileage on it and just give it a good clean which it certainly hasnt had.The headlamp ears and lower legs were covered in thick ancient oily grime.
Just a shame i only had my Phone with me to take the pics.

[garyb]

great find Tedward

i agree leave well alone what machine to have as honest as you get

[tonyf]

An honest machine - I'd leave completely as-is...

[marky]

i would leave it just as it is if it was mine

[nat666]

it just goes to show that the numbers are a good guide in most aspects but we all know the dealers also did a bit of their own thing and there were a few exceptions to the rule coming out off the production line ! so I am not really too surprised

[garyb]

i would leave it just as it is if it was mine

stoogey you cant leave anything alone

[funkymoped]

One of my Purples is 16035 and I have the original documentation for that bike and when I owned the same bike at 16 it was 18 months old and it didnt have as much as a scratch on it and the guy that bought it new Adrian Belsey lives half way from mine to work and it was most cirtainly always purple as can be seen in the piccy of it outside the school in the gallery.

I knew that book was wrong as Perry Hogbin still has his old bike and that is M reg and its number is 15997 and yes its a popsi and always has been.

I would have to restore it! Only joking that is a prime example of a true classic very original indeed.

[pertheswede]

Interesting, very very interesting!!

This is great stuff Allspeed, just the sort of thing we want here at the Club to try and dispel any myths and get the true facts about launch of model number & colours etc!

I take it there were no signs of it having been painted, not by the owner necessarily, but by the dealer? This may have been done in order to make it more saleable say if they had a few Candy Orange ones they couldn't sell due to the new more desirable pop purple colour being introduced??

I don't suppose you know what date this fizzy was registered do you?

[allspeed]

Yep i took the reg,i didnt post that pic though as i had shown the chassis number.
Its registered 1/5/74 (M plate)

[flapinflares]

good stuff.......... good pics from a phone