‘I knowthatMatchlessscrambler’
Readers Letters
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Ienjoyed immensely
James Adam Bolton’s
story on theAermacchi/
Harley connection in
theJulyedition ofThe
ClassicMotorCycle.Itis
nicetosee theseexcellent
machines describedin
such apositivemanner.
Ihaveboth a
Harley SS250 Sprint
(four-speed), anda
Harley SS350 Sprint
(five-speedwith electric
start). Both ar every
differen tmachines and
tremendousfuntoride.
Iwould liketopoint
out acouple of small
inaccuraciesin th earticle.
Photo three of th egear
changestates Aermacchi
retained righ tside
gearchangethrough to the
endofproduction.
Actu ally, for 1973 and
1974 (thelastyears of the
350), thegearchange was
movedtothe left-hand
side of theengine in
keepingwith th eJapanese
bikes.IknowsinceI
ownone!Ita lsomeans I
have to remember which
Harley Aermacch iIam
riding,orIgetasurprise
whenapplying the
foot brake!
Rob Gardner,via email.
Ihavejustpickedupthe
July edition ofTCMfrom the
postbox and straight away I
thought‘Ik nowthat bike’ on
the frontcover.OSL 775was
amachineownedbyLaurie
PackerinWiltshire, whobuilt
the bikefromapile of parts he
hadwithin hisworkshop.
Laurie is awonderful chap
and at one time hehadafine
collection of motorcycles that
he hadresto redhimself.Heisa
memberoft he AJS&Matchless
Owners’Club,which is howI
gottoknowhim in the
mid-1990s.All the more
remarkable wasthat Lauriehad
met with anawful caraccident
in Spain someyears before,
leavinghim disabled. He wasa
keen canalboatenthusiastbut
after his accidenthedecided
to sell up hisboatsand restore
motorcycles.Hewas akeen
motorcyclist in the 1960s.He
wasunable toride butasked
many of us from theNewbury
&DistrictSection of the AMOC
to come down to his home
and ‘exercisehis bikes’. He
would followusinhis specially
adaptedfour-wheel driveLand
Cruiserwith trailer behind in
case of abreakdown.
He allowed both myself
and fellowclub memberBob
Lawmon tosample two of his
fine single-cylinderMatchless
machin es,a1966G80CS and
the featuredG3Scrambler
one warm Sunday and we
took themover theWiltshire
Ridgeway abovePewsey Vale.
Ourexperienceswere written
up and an articleappeared in
theJanuary2002issueofthe
Jampot.
Irememberwell Laurie
showing me the engine
internals of thisvery special
350c cMatchlesshehad bought
around 1998 andsaid he was
goingtomakean‘off-roadster’
with all the parts he could
puttogether.Heregister ed it
in Wiltshireand OSL775 was
allocated–heand hiswife Cil
alwayscalledthe Matchless
‘Ozzle ’. Hence it is themachine
featured. IknowLauriesold
the bikeontosomeone in the
West Countr ysometime later,
as hewanted to getsome cash
for new projects andIwas
fortunatetobuy the G80CSfrom
him.Ican vouch forthe fact that
the 350ccMatchlesswas afine
performer,every bit asgood as
the G80CS. Newowner Gary
Rendell isalucky man,
Malcolm Arnold,viaemail.
Aermacchi
and Harley
With reference toHerman
Meier,asf eaturedinYou
Were AskingintheTCMof
August2019,Imet Herman
severaltimes.Thepictured
bikewas riddenin sprints
by John Kimberley, and I
sugges tthe photowastakenat
Church Lawford.
Norton expertBill Stuart
did much of themachining
Herman neededwhenhewas
workingatAriel on the Arrow
engineand at RoyalEnfield
whenworkingonthe RE5.
Theonly wayHermancould
get his special work done
quicklywas to take it outof
thosefactories.
As Iunderstoodit, Herman
worked in Spain forBultaco
and Montessa .After Europe he
did go to theUS to work on two-
strokeoutboardengin es and
Ioverheardhim talkingwith
Bill Stuart when hehadmoved
to JohnsonEvinrude. Herman
commentedtherewas plenty
of potentialfor tuning those
engines becausetheywerestill
usingdeflectortopped pistons.
He came tomy fatherLen’s
race workshop inBarntGreen,
Worcestershire, wherethe
KimberleyArrow lived, and
said to mehe’d learnedmuch of
what he knewabouttwo-stroke
tuningfromWalterKaaden.
Certainly, the expansion
chamberdesign mirrored WK’s.
Two-st roke cynic Bill Stuart
alwayscommented that tuning
two- stroke swas just amatterof
rifflerfiles for theportsand a
hacksawtochop theexhaust...
plusinfinite patience!
ColinTaylor,via email.
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16 THE CLASSICMOTORCYCLE|SEPTEMBER 2019
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