History of VRF26L?

Hi All,

In 1978 I purchased a May 1973-registered Trident T150V second-hand from a Peter Howe in Leek, Staffs.  I still have that bike and it has recently been undergoing a professional rebuild.  I am trying to track down any of the bike’s pre-1978 history.  Pete Howe is no longer at that address, and the rebuild process has thrown up a number of questions, like:

• The EH frame and engine numbers indicate a May 1973 manufacture date, but the bike was first registered in the last week of May 1973. Would that have been an unusually quick manufacture-to-registration period at that time?
• V5 log book has the bike’s colour recorded as black/red, but the bread-bin fuel tank was black/gold when I purchased the bike. Did an early owner simply change the fuel tank for a 1974 colour scheme tank?
• why was the gearbox repaired and rebuilt before my purchase.. on what was not even a five year old bike at that time? A sizeable hole had been punched in the top of the gearbox case and fairly tidily (but not perfectly) repaired.
• The bike had clearly been stripped for the gearbox repair, but it seems some of the old tab washers were reused (rebuilder rule #1?) – which led to further clutch/gearbox problems and the bike being laid up shortly after I bought it.
• Who was the original selling dealer? The bikes registration is VRF26L, which indicates it was registered in Staffordshire, possibly in the Leek area. (OK, so there are ways of easily determining that).
• It was fitted with T160 silencers and Boyer electronic ignition when I purchased it.
• I wonder if the bike suffered some early catastrophic failure or crash that resulted in it being rebuilt with some non -standard items?

Clearly the bike was subjected to some early owner ‘customisation’, but is there anyone out there who may be able to shed any light on this or have had any early exposure to this bike – now almost 50 years ago?  As I say, it is a long shot, but this was a bike that was clearly extensively ‘mucked about with’ in its first five years.  The frame and engine numbers match (EH046xx).

Thanks,
Graham