Hey, been off this site for a while - new job has taken a lot of my time until quite recently.
I started the P11 thread about 8 years ago due to my acquiring my Ranger, and a fair amount of interest in the P11s. This eventually led to the P11 forum, which - for the most part - has been a great source of info on the P11s.
The experts for P11s are, of course, Dave Campbell, Tony Curzon, Leo Goff and Brian Slark. I have met Brian and Leo, and have had correspondence with Tony.
My understanding of the P11 history is as follows:
The batch of G85CSs that went to ZD Motors in 1966 was recognized as obsolete. The crew at ZD did they same thing they in '63 with the G15/45, and fit the Atlas motor in the G85 chassis. This prototype used the 7R conical hub of the G85 and a custom oil tank that wrapped around the rear wheel. There was no side cover over the battery. This is supposedly the genesis of the mystical triangular battery side cover, airbrushed in over the battery on the prototype in early press releases.
This prototype was sent back to Plumstead, and was copied to the production P11 to the point that the first batch did not have a drain plug in the oil tank.
This was rectified fairly quickly, and 2 more batches of P11s were produced, totaling about 700, mostly low pipe and off-road forks.
4 batches were made for 1968, totaling about 1300, the last mostly called P11A Rangers, as the collapse of Matchless led to the naming of the remaining P11As in stock 'Rangers' to coincide with the 1969 Ranger.
There are about a dozen differences between a P11A Ranger and a Ranger 750. Skimmed v unskimmed hubs, brake switch in front brake cable, seat (Ranger seat is essentially a G15/N15 seat from '68 without the rear mounting tab), head (Ranger used a Commando head, drilled for Atlas oiling), , Rear mudguard, reflectors, Norton decal on the tank, gold 'D' stripe on the tank, and a few other minor differences.
Tony says 497 Ranger 750s were made, P/11 128646 to P/11 129145, with 2 pre-production 1969 Commandos interspersed in that batch. My math says there were 498 made.
Regardless, these were pretty good bikes.
I have put about 6000 miles on my Ranger since resurrecting it, and 1000 miles on my G15CS. Both much more fun around town than the Commando - but neither is happy at all on the interstate, while my 850 will cruise for 2 hours at 75-80 (Roadster tank)
