56 16MS Origins

[59G3LS]

Hi All,

My 56 16MS basket case has been verified by the club as having the original frame, engine & gearbox as when it left the factory in mid Feb 1956.
I am an ex pat in Perth Australia, and purchased this bike maybe 7 years ago from the Son of the deceased owner who told me it came from Singapore. The number plates suggest that it was last registered in the Kuala Lumpur region of Malaysia, so all possible.
The dating certificate states the dealer as 'Palmer'.... I have found a list of dealers on the archives but no Palmer to be found.
Does anyone have any idea who Palmer(s) were and if this bike was an export model or just found it's way to the far east somehow. The petrol tank has been sprayed with primer but it's possible to make out the shape of the panels used on the export chrome tanks.... A lot of parts have been chromed in the past, clutch cover, primary oil inspection cover, front guard stay, rear guard rails etc.
I know it doesn't really matter but I would love to know it's history!!!

Regards - Mark

[SPRIDDLER]

......and purchased this bike maybe 7 years ago from the Son of the deceased owner who told me it came from Singapore. The number plates suggest that it was last registered in the Kuala Lumpur region of Malaysia, so all possible.
The dating certificate states the dealer as 'Palmer'.... I have found a list of dealers on the archives but no Palmer to be found.
Does anyone have any idea who Palmer(s) were and if this bike was an export model or just found it's way to the far east somehow.

Here's a thought..........

I have a standard, black '54 G3LS which according to the dating certificate was supplied from the factory to 'Tozer' which I discovered after some research wasn't a dealer but a shipping agent acting for the British gov't to supply a whole range of equipment to (pre-independence) Rhodesia. My G3LS was in fact supplied against a British gov't contract for the (British) Rhodesian Police Force. It seems that the bike spent its entire life in Rhodesia until it was brought back to the U.K. in 1992, I believe by the previous owner to me as there was only his name on the logbook.

AMC had a healthy export business in the post WW2 poverty period when the Gov't was close to bankruptcy and the purchase of imported materials, particularly steel was restricted except for the manufacture of products for export (it is said to be that restriction which prompted the use of aluminium for the Land Rover's body). AMC did well with British gov't contracts to supply the police, military, fire service etc. of the then, British colonial territories.
It may be that 'Palmer' was the general procurement agent or shipping agent who handled the shipment of your bike to Singapore. From 1945 Singapore was a British Crown Colony until 1959 when it gained self-governance.

[59G3LS]

Thanks Spriddler,
That sounds very plausible. I haven't had much luck researching Palmer but I guess that's par for the course being so long ago. I would imagine that my basket case spent most, if not all of it's life in Malaysia/Singapore and was probably used until relatively recently as literally, everything is worn out!!

Cheers - Mark