Richard, 
 
It's not so much the accuracy of the date as the system that I was trying to understand. I must confess to only having looked at the motorcycle numbering. 
 
There seems to have been a rough corelation between year in service and the first two digits of five from 1933 onwards, changing to six digits in 1935 and seven in 1939. There was then a jump at the end of 1939 from C39***** numbers to C41***** (Any idea what happened to C40***** ?) 
 
Nortons for example jumped from C3934708 to C4101401 in November 1939 (according to the factory ledgers) mid-way through a contract. 
 
Rich
		 
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
	
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