T

he dirtbike boom of the

1970sproducedsome

amazingnewbikesbutnot

everybody managed to

make it onto the

bandwagon. Sometimes

the technology was too much for the

market to handle, sometimes the

pricing was too high and sometimes it

was just bad luck. Here are those

bikes that seemedlikeagoodideaat

the time, but soon became myth!

COOPER/AMMEX

The Cooper was the type of thing that

looked good on paper. Frank Cooper

was a U.S. Maico and Yamaha dealer

who decided if he could fill the gap

between the beginners’ Yamaha and

the experts’ Maicothenhe’dhavethe

entire market covered. He copied the

Maico frame, the Yamaha 250cc

cylinder, piston and porting and a CZ

clutch and gearbox and asked

Mexican firm Moto Islo to build it.

The design wassoundandtestsof

the day extolled the virtues of the

Cooper. At first. Longevity was not a

strong point, and neither was

Mexican metallurgy.Ownerssoon

discovered weak points in the bikes,

andsnappedboltswereoneofthem.

The tanks and mudguards were

fibreglass and prone to fracture as

Pedrowasn’texactlyastarpupilat

the Tijuana TAFE ’glassing classes.

The front guard did little more than

blocktherider’sviewofthetyre.

Airfiltercleaningwasasimple

processofremoveandreplace

(anotherfirstthatnevercaughton)as

thefilterwouldusuallytearinhalf

when you tried to take it out. Aussie

importerBlairHarleyhadagood

relationship with the factory and it

respondedpromptlytofeedbackbut

only 150 Coopers made it to Australia.

Eventually the famous Jones racing

family bought the business and even

had some success with motocross

champGaryJonesriding.Thebikes

were renamed Ammex (American

Mexican) and, to overcome the

problemsofMexicanmetal,they

shipped U.S. chrome-moly and

aluminiumtoMotoIslo.

Sadly,a1976revaluationofthe

Mexicanpesoalmostdoubledthe

priceofthebikesandtheCooper/

Ammex disappeared. The only place

youwillseeaCoopertodayisina

museumoratClassicDirtinQld.

L

EACH YEAR WE WAIT FOR AN AVALANCHE OF NEW MODELS,

BUT 40 YEARS AGO IT WAS A BARRAGE OF BRANDS

http://www.adbmag.com.au SEPTEMBER 2017 | 93

WORDS // WARREN JACK PHOTOS // PHIL AYNSLEY & WJ

Part One
There were so many
bikes that could’ve made
this list. Here’s a few of
our favourites. Check in
next issue for Part Two!