longed to get their hands on. Compared
with existing machinery it was faster (over
70mph), more powerful (16bhp @5,400 pm),
significantly lighter (344lbs in production
form), and incorporating one cutting-edge
feature, telescopic front forks, which gave good
handling on tarmac and outstanding ability, as
post-war competition would verify, off-road.
The Collier brother’s AMC at Plumstead, where
AJS and Matchless were made, had come
late to the party. Though there were orders for
the G3/L’s predecessor, the girder-forked G3
WO, a fast, relatively nimble but heavy (375lbs
dry) 350, of which 18,500 were supplied from
1939-1942, a) such a machine did not conform
to the current WD ‘sturdy and simple’ doctrine.
In addition, Plumstead was judged too close
to the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich, and so a
bombing risk.
But it was Triumph and its light 350 twin
which was bombed out in Nov 1940, and a
week later Plumstead was asked to submit
its own light machine, the prototype G3/L, for
evaluation. That ‘L’ stood for lightweight’, and
the factory had taken the weight issue seriously
enough to weigh every single component
including each nut and bolt. The result was
lighter mudguards and rear chainguard, smaller
bore exhaust/shorter silencer, smaller brakes
and saddle, a single toolbox, reduced cylinder
finning etc. All this produced a prototype dry
weight of 319lbs – 56lbs less than the G3 WO,
and most other WD machines.
A final lightening factor had been the fork,
patented as ‘Teledraulic’. It famously derived
from close scrutiny of BMW’s design, probably
via AJS works rider and future sales manager
Jock West. Jock had also ridden for BMW
and was employed by AFN, its UK importer;
though another story has forks quietly sourced
from the Irish importer. Bert, the youngest
Collier and a talented engineer, supervised
development, and the Teledraulic was strong,
well-damped hydraulically via small disc-type
dampers, and with its alloy lower legs, light.
With tragic irony, after the first G3/L contract,
in Oct 1941 Bert Collier died in an accident –
on a long-term test BMW.
The new light 350 also chimed with a newWD doctrine right from the top, as Winston
Churchill promoted counter-attack, via
airborne forces, Commandos and ultimately
seaborne invasion. The G3/L’s light, quick, even
aggressive character suited this. Accepted
in 1941, the first volume production came in
mid-1942, with the early machines going to the
Airborne for glider assaults.
The G3/L was pretty much right from the
start, and unquestionably the forces’ favourite,
with over 50,000 built by 1945. They did wear
quicker than the side-valves, however, and in
REME workshops were not so popular.‘The most uncomfortable feature
was severe vibration’
Royal Enfield
undertook a wide
range of war-work
including production
of the ‘Flying Flea’