Cast aluminium toolbox

[JFerg]

Can anyone identify this beauty?  It's a cast aluminium toolbox, with a cast lid, obviously designed for a mid-late thirties rigid framed bike, but which one?

[cardan]

Hi JFerg,

That's a nice bit of kit. 95% certain it's Douglas from the second half of the 1930s. Things like the Aero models.

If you'd like a positive ID, or if you'd like to sell it, I'm sure the crew at http://douglasmotorcycles.net would be keen.

Cheers

Leon

[JFerg]

Thanks, leon.
I'll head down the Douglas rabbit hole.  No wish to sell it, it's a nice thing to look at and touch.
cheers,
JFerg

[cardan]

Try this: https://www.douglasmotorcycles.net/index.php?topic=6434.msg29728#msg29728

Not sure if you can see the photos without being a member, but the detail seems identical to yours, down to the + ridges on the back of the lid.

Here's the box on an OW - not so clear because the random pinstripes makes it appear to have detail it doesn't really have.

Leon

[Rex]

Dougies had form for lovely cast ally toolboxes. The post-war Mks had two aerodynamic tool boxes, complete with chromed and knurled hand screws.

[TGR90B]

Indeed, but quality they probably couldn't afford.

[JFerg]

Thanks again, Leon.

It's clearly of the same family as the OW item, yet different.

The top photo is upside down.  The bottom section is scalloped to fit behind the frame member, and the lid opens at a joint line above that, leaving a tub that would collect water and old washers.  I'll post some clearer pictures later.

JFerg.

[JFerg]

Some more photos. It's quite distinctive, and could well be for an Endeavour.  Only snag is that every photo I've ever seen of an Endeavour shows the shaft driven right side rather than the boring left where the toolbox rests.

[cardan]

Hi JFerg,

Isn't this exactly the toolbox on the funny-colour OW Douglas?

I'm happy to post your pics on the douglasmotorcycles.net site - they will know.

Cheers

Leon

[JFerg]

Looking at it again, Leon, yes, of course.  The paint and the pin stripes are a remarkable illusion, hard to see through.
JFerg