Matchless is one of the oldest
marque
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...
s of British
motorcycle
A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...
s, manufactured in
Plumstead
Plumstead is an area in southeast London, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich, England. It is located east of Woolwich.
History
Until 1965, Plumstead was in the historic counties of England, historic county of Kent and the detail of mu ...
, London, between 1899 and 1966. A wide range of models were produced under the Matchless name, ranging from small two-strokes to 750 cc
four-stroke
A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either directio ...
twins. Matchless had a long history of racing success; a Matchless ridden by
Charlie Collier
Charles Richard Collier (1885–1954) of Plumstead, London, was a British motorcycle racer famous for winning Isle of Man TT races twice in his career. After competing in the 1906 International Cup Races on the European continent, Charlie Col ...
won the first single-cylinder race in the first
Isle of Man TT
The Isle of Man TT or Tourist Trophy races are an annual motorcycle racing event run on the Isle of Man in May/June of most years since its inaugural race in 1907. The event is often called one of the most dangerous racing events in the world ...
in 1907.
In 1938, Matchless and AJS became part of
Associated Motorcycles
Associated Motor Cycles (AMC) was a British motorcycle manufacturer founded by the Collier brothers as a parent company for the Matchless and AJS motorcycle companies. It later absorbed Francis-Barnett, James, and Norton before incorporation i ...
(AMC), both companies producing models under their own marques. During the amalgamations that occurred in the British motorcycle industry in the 1960s, the Matchless four-stroke twin was replaced with the
Norton Norton may refer to:
Places
Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada
*Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan
*Norton Parish, New Brunswick
**Norton, New Brunswick, a ...
twin, ending a long history of independent production. By 1967, the Matchless singles had ceased production.
History
![1905 Matchless 2½hp motorcycle (5949384717)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/1905_Matchless_2%C2%BDhp_motorcycle_%285949384717%29.jpg)
The first Matchless motorcycle was made in 1899, and production began in 1901. Matchless was the trading name of Collier & Sons, the father
Henry Herbert Collier
Henry Herbert Collier was one of the first British motorcycle designers, inventor and founder of the Matchless Motorcycle Company.
Early life
Collier was born in Saskatoon, Canada.
Business
Henry Collier founded a company to make bicycles u ...
and his sons Charlie and Harry. The Matchless tank badge was a winged "M". Like many motorcycle manufacturers of the time, they had started as
bicycle
A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist.
Bic ...
manufacturers. They produced a
JAP
''Jap'' is an English abbreviation of the word "Japanese". Today, it is generally regarded as an ethnic slur.
In the United States, some Japanese Americans have come to find the term very offensive, even when used as an abbreviation. Prior to t ...
V-twin powered bike in 1905, with one of the earliest swing-arm rear suspensions, coupled with leading-link front forks. Charlie won the inaugural TT singles race in 1907 at an average speed of 38.21 mph in a time of 4 hours 8 minutes 8 seconds. Harry did not finish in 1907, but won in 1909, and Charlie won again in 1910, bringing Matchless motorcycles to the attention of the public. Matchless made mostly singles, but they also made V-twins from 496 cc to 998 cc. They made their own engines from 1912 on.
![1922 Matchless Model H motorcycle combination (ES 4509), Beamish Museum, 11 December 2010](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/1922_Matchless_Model_H_motorcycle_combination_%28ES_4509%29%2C_Beamish_Museum%2C_11_December_2010.jpg)
At the 1912 Olympia Motor Cycle and Cycle Car show Matchless showed a V-twin powered
cycle car
A cyclecar was a microcar, type of small, lightweight and inexpensive Automobile, car manufactured in Europe and the United States between 1910 and the early 1920s. The purpose of cyclecars was to fill a gap in the market between the motorcycle ...
, with two wheels at the front and a single drive wheel at the rear. Unusually the drive was by shaft and bevel gear. The frame was of pressed steel channel. It was priced at 100 guineas.
Matchless was not given a contract to make motorcycles for the army during the First World War. Peacetime production resumed in 1919, concentrating at first on V-twins for
sidecar
A sidecar is a one-wheeled device attached to the side of a motorcycle, scooter, or bicycle, making the whole a three-wheeled vehicle. A motorcycle with a sidecar is sometimes called a ''combination'', an ''outfit'', a ''rig'' or a ''hack''.
...
use, leaving singles until 1923. In 1926
Henry Collier died, and by 1928 Matchless was a limited company. In 1930 they launched a narrow-angle 400 cc V-twin called the Silver Arrow, designed by Charlie. The Silver Arrow, launched in 1929, was a side-valve v-twin with 54 x 86mm dimensions and 394 cc. The two cylinders were set at 18 degrees within a single casting under a single head. The result looked odd, rather like a single that was too long, and with the exhaust emerging from the manifold at its right corner and the carburettor in the middle of the block on the left, the odd appearance was accentuated, and in 1930 they launched an (advanced for the time) 593 cc OHC V-four, the Silver Hawk. About 60 out of the 500 made survive, The Hawk was designed by youngest brother Bert, who was now active in the company, and he was responsible for design right up to the war.
Is-it-a-lemon ''Vehicle Histories'' (Retrieved 21 October)
![1934](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/1934.morgan.super.sports.arp.jpg)
In 1931 Matchless bought
AJS from the Stevens brothers. Matchless bought
Sunbeam
A sunbeam, in meteorological optics, is a beam of sunlight that appears to radiate from the position of the Sun. Shining through openings in clouds or between other objects such as mountains and buildings, these beams of particle-scattered sunl ...
in the late thirties, but Sunbeam was sold to
BSA in 1943.
After that the only "true" AJS models, as far as AJS enthusiasts were concerned, were the racing 7Rs, Porcupines and the pre-war AJS Four. The shared models were considered by some AJS fans to be only
badge-engineered
In the automotive industry, rebadging is a form of market segmentation used by automobile manufacturers around the world. To allow for product differentiation without designing or engineering a new model or brand (at high cost or risk), a manu ...
Matchless models. In 1935 the Matchless/AJS hairpin valve springs made their first appearance. Matchless supplied engines for the V-twin versions of the
Morgan three-wheeler from 1933 until Morgan production was halted by the outbreak of World War II in 1939. From 1935 on they were Morgan's exclusive supplier of V-twin engines. A dozen surviving unused engines were still in storage at the Morgan works in 1946 and were used to build a final batch of V-Twin trikes for a Morgan dealer in Australia. Matchless also supplied engines after 1935 to 1940 to the
Brough Superior
Brough Superior ( ) motorcycles, sidecars, and automobile, motor cars were made by George Brough in his Brough Superior works on Haydn Road in Nottingham, England, from 1919 to 1940. The motorcycles were dubbed the "Rolls-Royce car, Rolls-Roy ...
works. These engines were made to the specifications of Brough Superior and are not identical to similar engines used in Matchless motorcycles. The Brough Superior engines used a fork and blade rod configuration, cams ground to different specification, and larger ports in the cylinders or heads.
AMC (1938–66)
Associated Motor Cycles
Associated Motor Cycles (AMC) was a British motorcycle manufacturer founded by the Collier brothers as a parent company for the Matchless and AJS motorcycle companies. It later absorbed Francis-Barnett, James, and Norton before incorporation i ...
(AMC) was formed in 1938, as a parent company for Matchless and AJS motorcycles. AMC later (postwar) absorbed
Francis-Barnett
Francis & Barnett Limited was an English motorcycle manufacturer founded in 1919 by Gordon Inglesby Francis and Arthur Barnett and based in Lower Ford Street, Coventry, England. Early motor cycles were affectionately known as ' Franny B'. Motorcy ...
,
James
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguat ...
, and
Norton Norton may refer to:
Places
Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada
*Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan
*Norton Parish, New Brunswick
**Norton, New Brunswick, a ...
. In 1941 Matchless motorcycles introduced telescopic front forks called "Teledraulic" forks, considered by some to be the first major innovation in British front suspension in 25 years.
During the Second World War, Matchless manufactured 80,000
G3 and G3L models for the armed forces. By 1956 they had eight models in their line up, but the number had dwindled in 1965. The G3L was the first to feature the "Teledraulic" front forks.
Post-war landmarks start with the production of Matchless/AJS 350 cc and
Matchless G80
The Matchless G80 is a single cylinder 500 cc British motorcycle built by Associated Motorcycles (AMC) between 1946 and 1966. During the 1950s and 1960s, the main export product for AMC was the AJS/Matchless range – the road bikes were ve ...
500 cc singles, developed from the legendary war-time Matchless G3 produced for the army. Competition models of the singles were produced from 1948, which gave the company some memorable wins.
![Flickr - ronsaunders47 - MATCHLESS RACING MACHINE](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Flickr_-_ronsaunders47_-_MATCHLESS_RACING_MACHINE.jpg)
In 1949 the first Matchless/AJS vertical twin, a 500 cc, was produced; later to be joined by 600 cc and 650 cc vertical twins in 1956 and 1959 respectively. On the racing front AMC were fielding the (
supercharged
In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement.
The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced induct ...
)
AJS Porcupine
The AJS 500 cc Porcupine was a British racing motorcycle built by Associated Motor Cycles (AMC), which débuted in 1945 with a horizontal-engine designated E90S. The later E95 model was developed with an inclined-engine. AMC produced AJS an ...
and the
AJS 7R alongside the 1951
Matchless G45
Matchless is one of the oldest marques of British motorcycles, manufactured in Plumstead, London, between 1899 and 1966. A wide range of models were produced under the Matchless name, ranging from small two-strokes to 750 cc Four-stroke cy ...
500 cc vertical twin. Even when supercharging was banned,
Les Graham
Robert Leslie Graham (14 September 1911 – 12 June 1953) was a British motorcycle road racer who competed in the 1930s and 1940s. He won the inaugural Grand Prix motorcycle racing 500 cc World Championship in 1949.
Early Career (19 ...
won the
1949 500 cc world championship on a normally aspirated Porcupine.
For 1952, the Model G45 twin-cylinder production racer was introduced. Its pushrod 500 cc OHV vertical twin-cylinder engine was based on the roadster Model G9, and was housed in a modified AJS 7R chassis. Derek Farrant won the 1952 Manx Grand Prix at 88.65 mph, and AMC put the G45 into limited production.
In 1953 there was a Clubman range of Matchless/AJS 350 cc and 500 cc singles. AMC withdrew from factory-supported road racing at the end of the 1954 season, following the death of Ike Hatch, and facing fierce competition from the other European bikes.
The Matchless G50 single-cylinder racer was made generally available for privateers in 1959, and competed against the Norton Manx. Though its 90.0 x 78.0 mm 50 bhp engine and top speed near 135 mph (217 km/h) were slightly down on the Manx, the lighter Matchless could take the day on tight and twisty circuits.
In 1958 the Matchless/AJS road bikes were joined by a 250 cc and in 1960 by a 350 cc for a lightweight series of singles.
In 1960
Bert Hopwood
Herbert Hopwood (1908 – 17 October 1996) was a British motorcycle designer. He was, at least, partly responsible for some of the most influential designs for the British motorcycle industry and worked for Ariel, Norton, BSA and Triumph.
M ...
resigned from AMC and joined Triumph. That same year AMC posted a profit of a little over £200,000, in comparison to BSA's £3.5 million. That was followed by a loss of £350,000 in 1961. With the closure of the Norton plant at Birmingham in 1962 and the merger of Norton and Matchless production, the future was beginning to look rather bleak. In the sixties, with sales declining AMC made the commercial decision to focus on the Norton twins and the Matchless/AJS singles but they were not to be successful and the factory ceased production shortly afterwards.
With the G15 line, AMC built on the merits of the
G12 but there were numerous changes to frame, forks, swinging arm, primary chaincase, transmission, cycle parts and lubrication system. The P11 was the last line of bikes with bonds to AMC. It used a modified G85CS frame but there were stronger forks, completely new cycle parts (making some was rather costly), altered lubrication and modified primary chaincases, to mention a few.
The G15 series was offered as 3 brands: Matchless G15 comprising G15Mk2, G15CS and G15CSR; AJS Model 33 comprising M33Mk2, M33CS and M33CSR; and last not least Norton N15CS (no Norton-branded roadster made as it would compete against the Atlas). The G15 series was produced from 1963 to 1969. They were initially for export only, but by 1965 these models were available in UK and Europe too.
The Matchless G85CS used a 12:1 compression 500 cc with an improved bottom end, and a Norton gear-driven oil pump replacing the old reciprocating design that dated back to the 1920s. The revised bottom end was introduced for 1964 and is shared by 350/500 roadsters and the 500CS (G80CS and M18CS), the engine of which was later adapted to the G85CS. The new lubrication system helped lubricating the big end and piston as well as the top end on the high-performance singles. The G85CS was further tuned for 1966, and received a new piston providing a CR of 12.5:1. An
Amal GP
AMAL was a British engineering company servicing the motorcycle and other light-engineering motor industries between 1927 and 1993[Manganese Bronze Holdings
Manganese Bronze Holdings plc (MBH) was the holding company of LTI Limited. The firm's sole business in its final years as a company was London black taxicab manufacturing through the LTI subsidiary.
The Manganese Bronze and Brass Co was fou ...]
, who formed
Norton-Villiers
Norton-Villiers was a British motorcycle manufacturer formed in the 1960s following the collapse of AMC. With the general decline of the British motorcycle industry, under a British Government initiative it was later combined with the remnants ...
to oversee operations. At the time Norton was the only motorcycle marque in the company that was making money. There was a P11 series which comprised the following four models; P11 (1967), P11A (1968) and P11A Ranger (1968/69) and the P11 Ranger 750 (1969). It is believed that production of the G15 series was halted late in 1968 (model year '69) with unsold samples on offer through 1969. The P11 series carried on in production until the spring of 1969. The P11 was offered either as Norton or Matchless, but by heritage it is a Matchless bike.
Les Harris (1987)
A new Harris "Matchless G80" single was released in 1987 powered by an Austrian
Rotax
Rotax is the brand name for a range of internal combustion engines developed and manufactured by the Austrian company BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co KG (until 2016 BRP-Powertrain GmbH & Co. KG), in turn owned by the Canadian Bombardier Recreational Product ...
4-stroke, single over-head cam (SOHC), 500 cc engine. Components from Italy such as front and rear Paioli suspension and
Brembo
Brembo S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of automotive brake systems, especially for high-performance cars and motorcycles. Its head office is in Curno, Bergamo, Italy.
History
Brembo was established in Paladina, Italy on January 11, 1961 ...
disc brakes were used whilst, harking back to his licence-built
Triumph Bonneville T140
The Triumph Bonneville T140 is a standard motorcycle with a capacity engine that was designed and built by Triumph Engineering at Meriden near Coventry.
The T140 was the second generation in the Bonneville series developed from the earlier ...
s, the frame doubled up as the oil tank. The model was offered in colours of silver, black or metallic burgundy. Although electric start and twin disc brakes were options, priced at £2700 (£500 more than a
Yamaha Yamaha may refer to:
* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below).
** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...
motorcycle of similar specification), this was not a successful product and production ended by the early 1990s.
In popular culture
* The song lyrics of the song "Little Honda", first released by
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...
on the album ''
All Summer Long'' from 1964, mentions the brand in the line "It climbs the hills like a Matchless"
See also
*
List of AMC motorcycles
This is a partial list of motorcycle models produced by the Associated Motor Cycles (AMC) from its foundation in 1938 to incorporations as Norton-Villiers-Triumph. Many models were produced to the same specification under the badge names of AJ ...
*
Matchless G3/L
The Matchless G3/L is a motorcycle developed for use by the British Army during the Second World War, when Matchless manufactured 80,000 G3 and G3/L models. The G3/L became one of the most popular motorcycles used during the war, as it was the ...
*
Matchless G80
The Matchless G80 is a single cylinder 500 cc British motorcycle built by Associated Motorcycles (AMC) between 1946 and 1966. During the 1950s and 1960s, the main export product for AMC was the AJS/Matchless range – the road bikes were ve ...
*
Matchless Model 7
*
List of car manufacturers of the United Kingdom
:''This list is incomplete. You can help by adding correctly sourced information about other manufacturers.''
As of 2018 there are approximately 35 active British car manufacturers and over 500 defunct British car manufacturers. This page lists ...
*
List of motorcycles of 1900 to 1909
[
List of motorcycles of the 1900s to 1909 is a listing of motorcycles of this period, including those on sale, introduced, or otherwise relevant in this period
Motorcycle
*Achilles (1906-1912 motorcycle)
*Advance (Australian motorcycle)
*Curti ...
* List of motorcycles of the 1910s
* List of motorcycles of the 1920s
References
{{British motorcycle manufacturers
British companies established in 1899
Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1899
Defunct motorcycle manufacturers of the United Kingdom
1899 establishments in England
1966 disestablishments in England