classic motorcycle forum

Why not? - simply because the cost of restoring aforementioned pile of rust - even with Norton on the tank - would be far more than the end result is worth. If you are doing it for pure enjoyment alone, then that is a different matter. Personally, I would favour a resto, provided it is wipes it face at the end of it. So if you would be good enough to find me a "non-running, but basically complete and unmolested" Vincent for under a grand, I would be most obliged.....     

It's great if you can flog off a bike you've spent money on for what it cost (or more) but if bike restoration is your interest then not making a profit doesn't really come into it. You wouldn't expect to make a profit if you liked golf or playing in a band, would you?
That said, too many spend too much on Bantams and the like and can never hope to recoup much if sold. There must be a happy medium in there somewhere.
As for the Vin, if only you'd said you wanted one last week...

I'm happy with "totally knackered" Ian as that's what restoration is all about. Buying a non-running seventy+ year old bike and expecting it to be useable is a bit optimistic!
I appreciate that the term "barn find" means a lot of things to different people; I was using it in the context of "a non-running but basically complete and unmolested" bike, rather than the Ebay "rusty hacked about old Honda being sold on by the ever-hopeful but hopeless Saturday mechanic because he's just broken off another head bolt while attempting to remove them" description.

As far as I'm aware in the era when Scott competed in races (pre-war) they weren't given any concession for being two-strokes and both engine types raced together.
Little French commuter two-strokes are as different from virtually hand-built to order Scotts as it's possible to be.

I like the ones who go on the Net to argue about oil and profess to buying the latest synthetic forty quid for five litre stuff, and then claim they change it every autumn after doing a whole 500 miles.
The bike is usually some mundane plodder that worked five days a week taking someone to work, and which was run on the cheapest crap oil that could be bought back then.
MV Agusta maybe, Ariel VB...nope.

If it's the front F/W hub you're talking about, then the answer is "not a lot".
The spoke holes in the hub point to the relevant dimple on the rim, so provided you're got the right spokes (CWC are good) and can tell that a spoke is being forced/bent into position (and so is in wrong spoke hole on the rim) you can't go wrong.
There's lots of hints and tips on the Net and take drawings, measurements of off-sets and digital pics before stripping.

I agree, the position of that carb says "lawnmower"  rather than "bike".
There's too much of a mix of "shiny" and "rusty" for this to be anything other than a lash. If you could get it running for peanuts then it could be a bit of fun for you but you really don't want to be shelling-out for any sort of restoration.
Just had a thought....given the industrial carb position and the extra bracing on the frame, maybe this started out as one of those three-wheel delivery trucks with two front and one rear wheel, and the articulated front load bed?

He was probably the bloke selling it.
"It looks like a race bike" is second only to finding "E Presley owned this bike" scratched underneath the saddle for sucking in the gullible interested bidders.

The OP's bike looks to have been seriously jiggered with. The extra bracing and fillets are odd, the tank has clearly been partially refinished (or just a new tank panel decal) and from the pic the exhaust pipe looks home-made.
That sort of stuff rings alarm bells when I see a bike as it indicates "tarted up for resale" or "I couldn't get this bike going so I'm making it look it's best for the advert".
I remember that later M-Gs had the Villiers engine made in France under licence but I have no idea whether parts are interchangeable with Villiers engine made in the UK. It shouldn't be a difficult bike to get running anyway, but the way to preferably buy 'em is as the one in Mini-me's photo.