The next part I wanted to have a look at was the gearbox. From the owners club forum I understood that there should be a gearbox number stamped somewhere on the case, in addition to the engine and frame numbers (the gearbox and engine are separate units on these bikes). However with the years of accumulated crud and grime …
So what was this strange beast I’d found? Well, it was a Matchless for a start – the big golden “M” on each side of the petrol tank gave that one away! But what model was it and what year was it made? To find that one out would require a bit more detective work (otherwise known as Googling) …
After all the searching, the one bike that caught my eye was an AJS 16Ms. It was in original, unrestored condition, seemed to be complete and was apparently a runner. All looked well until I checked the registration documents a few days later and found that the engine number didn’t seem to tie-up with the …