Hi all, I'm new to this forum, this is my second post after introducing myself. I have this Matchless G3L, it is a post war machine as it was manufactured in 1947. However I found it in really ugly shape and kinda restored it to look from the army. I have this question, I'm gonna add a Lucas horn to it, (right now has a chinese one), I was wondering what color the horn was painted back in the WWII era. I saw pictures of horns painted red oxide, not sure if they were fitted to the motorcycle like that, or then they were painted army green/ black, etc. A friend gave me the horn in the pic, it's from 1946, 12v, not sure if I can convert it to 6v. I'm ordering the missing nuts and bolts to complete it. Thanks!
Welcome I am sure a forum member will be along shortly to advise you a couple of threads for your info matchless G3L - help on history! WW2 Motorcycles Only
The horns that you've seen in red oxide are those sold by the Welsh chap ready for refinishing in the preferred colour. The wartime parts lists generally refer to 'Service Green' or 'Service Colour'. Hence the same colour as the rest of the bike. Headlamp rim / blackout mask seem generally to have been black. Try the horn and see. It'll probably sound like a dying duck on 6v. You'd need 6v internals to convert to make the correct sound - or if it doesn't function, hide your modern horn inside it. Alternatively, it is possible to get 12v out of the Lucas dynamo but it gives them quite a hard time.
Thank you Rich, I see now, I was thinking that it could be against the "camouflage" to use that red color. It'll be painted green as the rest of the bike then. Hiding a modern horn inside is a great idea, thanks!