Reviews

Widely regarded as the favourite motorcycle of dispatch riders during the Second World War, the 350cc Matchless G3L pushrod single was respected for its ruggedness and durability, and Gordon May’s latest book, Overland to Vietnam, tells the story of his epic 11,500-mile adventure on a 1941 GL3 in 2015. The machine, which was only recently…

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If a book ever deserved to be bound in soft, supple, deep black leather, then this is it! Open its pages and, just like the Jumanji board game in the 1995 film of the same title, all kinds of wonderful things fly out…the whiff of Castrol R, the sound of the juke box at the…

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Many TT fans will know that Charles R Collier, riding a Matchless, won the 1907 single-cylinder class over 10 laps of the original St John’s course, a distance of 158.125 miles, in 4hrs 8min 8sec on May 28, 1907, averaging a very respectable 38.21mph – but that’s where most people’s knowledge of the remarkable Collier…

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Pete Kelly reviews Bill Cakebread’s newly-reprinted and wonderfully-evocative story of life in London during and just after the war, and his apprenticeship and early working life at AMC’s long-vanished Plumstead Road factory. Every now and then, of the many motorcycling books that arrive at Old Bike Mart for review, a diamond-plated gem comes along; one…

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Mention the words ‘café racer’ and many of us will go all bleary-eyed as we remember the Tritons and TriBSAs of old, gleaming in the sunshine with their race-style alloy tanks, clip-ons and rear-sets, alloy rims, swept-back pipes, humped seats et al, and packed into the gardens of hotels and guest houses all the way up…

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After the Second World War, Associated Motor Cycles’ range of AJS and Matchless models helped put the British worker back on the road. With 350cc and 500cc AJS and Matchless-badged singles based on the military Matchless G3L, AMC quickly resumed production for the civilian market, much of it at first exported to bring in much-needed…

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