Barn, Well, Old Shed Find.

[Steve H]

Brilliant stuff..! This forum is ace..

 

[The Van Cave]

Its a 1958 onwards James Captain, (the front motor mount gives it away as a late model) James used Villiers or AMC engines I think yours is a 197cc so should have a Villiers engine.
The tank is incorrect to the bike.
Sorry to shatter any dreams of riches in your shed but an immaculate unrestored Captain worth maybe a little over £2000, Restored £1750 -£2000, in your condition £300 - £500 at a push with a v5
The original front mudguard is the most valuable bit as they can be hard to come by, so if that's lurking in your shed £150ish depending on condition

*Edit. I source/restore classic bikes for a living. I have provided private sale estimate prices.

Hi, thanks for the information, I never had any dreams of riches, I never expected it to be worth anything. It would be nice to sell it on to someone so that I can pull the old shed down. I'll have a proper look in the shed on Friday and see if the front mudguard is there, but I doubt it will be. I can't see why someone would have put a different one on there but kept the original.

What's my best option for selling it? If it's a base for a project for someone then it would be cool for them to take it and bring it back to life.

 

[The Van Cave]

Brilliant stuff..! This forum is ace..

It really is isn't it! I only joined the forum 4 months ago and that bike has been sat in that shed for years (certainly the 4 that I've lived there and seemingly many more before that) and I've never done anything with it. A quick post on here one morning and bang, we now know what it is! Just what to do with it now.

 

[sparkzer]

Its a 1958 onwards James Captain, (the front motor mount gives it away as a late model) James used Villiers or AMC engines I think yours is a 197cc so should have a Villiers engine.
The tank is incorrect to the bike.
Sorry to shatter any dreams of riches in your shed but an immaculate unrestored Captain worth maybe a little over £2000, Restored £1750 -£2000, in your condition £300 - £500 at a push with a v5
The original front mudguard is the most valuable bit as they can be hard to come by, so if that's lurking in your shed £150ish depending on condition

*Edit. I source/restore classic bikes for a living. I have provided private sale estimate prices.

good info! - looking at the engine do you think its for the bike? - the exhaust on it looks like the the general purpose villiers engine...i sorta assumed on a bike it would have something a bit more 'bike like'!?

 

[RagingBean]

good info! - looking at the engine do you think its for the bike? - the exhaust on it looks like the the general purpose villiers engine...i sorta assumed on a bike it would have something a bit more 'bike like'!?

Engine is not for that bike

 

[RagingBean]

Hi, thanks for the information, I never had any dreams of riches, I never expected it to be worth anything. It would be nice to sell it on to someone so that I can pull the old shed down. I'll have a proper look in the shed on Friday and see if the front mudguard is there, but I doubt it will be. I can't see why someone would have put a different one on there but kept the original.

What's my best option for selling it? If it's a base for a project for someone then it would be cool for them to take it and bring it back to life.

The machine was just a cheap form of transport in post war austerity, not that interesting then and not very sought after now.

Tin ware would be most sought after Tank, Mudguards, ChainGuard etc (thin sheet metal which rots away) followed by ancillaries, Lights, Speedo, Switchgear.

That leaves you with frame and hubs. Frame without a v5 is probably more hassle than its worth unless someone is desperate for a straight frame. Hubs and brake plates could again be worth something to someone if in good repair. But judging by the back tyre it looks like its been used and abused as a field bike.

I know it seems like a shame to bin a piece of British history but its really not worth much. Scrape what you can find together and bang it on an eBay auction with £200 reserve, buyer to collect, plenty of photos and declare that you don't know much about the bike and let them decide.

 

[RagingBean]

Brilliant stuff..! This forum is ace..

Forums are the stuff of dreams I spend such a large proportion of my day scouring old bike forums trying to gleen information. When I first started out it was all word of mouth and a case of 'Who you knew, not what you knew.' that's the reason I joined this forum when I bought my works van and laughably my first post is about old bangers!

 

[Montecha]

From what I can see the engine isn't right for the bike. The James would take the Villiers 9E two stroke single type engine. This was fitted to a whole load of British lightweights in the late 50's early 60's - DOT, Francis Barnett, DMW, Sprite, Greeves, James, etc. A company bought all the remaining Villiers stock when they folded and is keeping a whole load of bikes going, and being restored.

 

[The Van Cave]

Thanks to all for your contributions, it was good to at least learn a few things about the bike. I'll get some more photos, get it on to eBay and hopefully get a few beer tokens out of it.