Idly flipping through an architectural journal today my eye made a double-take on a French furniture ad (RocheBobois). A wall sized photo canvas with the delightful lines of an AJS engine provided a perfect backdrop to their modern dining furniture. What beauty to behold.
When viewed in its entirety the 7R is a gallery unto itself.
As you know [?] I tend to hold very strong views, formed over a lifetime of either watching attentively or, being involved.
Here is another strong view, from the days when British singles ruled the race tracks of Europe, until the Japanese two-stroke tide swamped all we knew..
The AJS 7R and its’ full sister, the Matchless G50.. were the most beautiful race bikes ever offered to the racing [buying] public.
Made only in very small quantities in period [158 G50’s from the factory between 1958~ 1962] they were also very useful, gathering countless national and international wins in the day.
A very lovely thing, both of them.. tho’ to my eye only when finished with a “gold” motor as originaly.. modern iterations tend to have a black chromate finish to the engine castings and visually they do lose that magic.
Looks wonderful, sounds wonderful, goes wonderful.
Finally, a G50 got round the IoM this year at 109 mph for a lap of the circuit.. some going on a 50bhp [ish] single.
Happy days.
And really finally.. the genius tuner Fred Walmsley will build you one of either 7R or G50 for about £35k [say $50k ]. Bargain then.
WF
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