kick withyour rightfoot sending it smoothly
purring into lifefirst tr y, ever ytime,even
fromcold –with so manycylinders and
such lowcompression, it’s heaps easierto
startthan avintage single ortwin, where
the valve-lifterbecomesyour best friend in
getting the showonthe road.Here, youjust
turnonthe fuel and tickle thefloat, retard
the ignition via the lever on the leftside of
the handlebar,close the mixturecontrol on
the oppositeside,turnonthe ignition via
the round dial set in the back of theMiller
headlamp,and –kick.Just agentle stab has
the four-cylinder motor purring into life, then
idling smoothly with the unmistakeable note
of avintageAustin Sevenofthe same era.
AndIshouldknow,becauseIused to own
one back inmy universitydays, and exactly
the same vintage as theAjay,too,a1928
three-speed saloon.
Like theAustin, youneed to feel theAJS
gearboxinto bottom gearat rest,pulling
gently backtowards your body with the
right-side gearlever while pulling the clutch
lever in withyour lefthand,ifn ecessary
rocking the bike back andforthalittle with
your feet to ease in the engagement–a
luxuryInever had withmy car,invariably
resulting inacrunc heach time bottom gear
went home.Idid th esame thefirst time I
triedto depart on theAJS, simply through
rushing things.But old habits die hard, and
Isoon got into the habit offeeling the gear
home,with rather moresuccess than back
then in theAustin. Accelerateaway, and
straightawayit’stimefor second gear,to
selectwhich youpush forwardwith the lever
through neutral,and then soonrepeatthe
operation forthird, akatop.
TheAJS engine is sotorquey thatyou can
actually take offfromrest in topgear on
levelground without anyexcessiveclutch
slip,and in anycase onceyou’vereachedtop
arider ofaverageweight ce rtainly doesn’t
needto work the gear lever again until he (or
she) comes to ahalt.All this is accomplished
withacompletelack of undue vibration, the
ultra-smoothfour-cylinder motor’s rubber
mountingcompleting the task of ironing
out anytingl es onwhat is atrue vintage
gentleman’s express.
Therewas justaslightreluctanceto
accelerate hard clea nlywiththe bike as
Irode it,which BobStanley put down
to the carburation still not being quite
yetsorted. Or perhaps thiswasone of
the endemic problems thatprevented it
reaching production, thanksto thatfoot-
long induction tract, and thewoolly fuelling
thatresulted? Orwasitt he difficulties of
cooling therear cylinders,without goingto
the expense andcomplication of separate
cylinders? Or maybe simply thecost of
tooling upto produceanall-new model,whichcould by itsverynatureonly be soldat
apremium price, at atime when saleswere
falling,and the marketcontracting?
We’ll neverknow –but whatisf or sure
is thatthe AJSfour-cylinder projecthit the
buffers in 1929, andwasmothballed. Instea d,
attention wasfocused on developing theAJS
Nine lightcar,whichfinally made its debut
in 19 30, but sales of which failedto liveupto
expectations.This aswell as the shaft-drive
AJSS3motor cycle with its 498cctransverse
V-twin engine–avintage-era predecessor of
today’sMotoGuzzi!–which debuted in 1931.
TheS3effectivelyreplaced the 632ccFour,
but itwastoo little,too la te.
In October 1931 theStevens brothers
declaredbankruptcy,and although being
honourable men they did in factrepayall
their creditorsby theend ofSeptember
1932, theywereunableto keep hold of
AJS. TheCollier brothers,proprietors of
Matchless,outbid BSAto purchase theAJS
name,manuf acturingrights ,and goodwill
for£20,0 00, forming AssociatedMotor Cycles
to embracethe combined marques,with
AJSproductionshiftingto the Matchless
factory in Plumstead,S.E.London, leaving the
Wolverhamptonworkforcetoj oin the ever-
incr easing massedranksoft he unemployed.
It’s hard not to concludethatthe AJS632cc
Four wasthe rightmotor cycle,but at the
wrong time.Pity.34 I AUGUST 2019 More old bikes online: Real-Classic.co.uk