Any body , Am looking for info on a twin port single 350 AJS, It says in old green logbook, that's its 1943, but that cant be right as the numbers on the crankcase are 40/26, engine no 9064, frame no x2619, I think it was impressed as there are two small holes each side of the engine no that look like they have had a plate fitted over, and somewhere I have seen that before in rebuild plates, answers on a postcard please, Andrew.h.

email (option): warbikes@gmail.com

just a thought were impressed motorcycle return to their owners when military issued motorcycles came on stream

email (option): roger.beck@node6.com

Your engine carries a 1940 date, no more AJS till 1945.
It could well have been an impressed bike either from its owner or more likely from dealer or factory stock.

Impressed bikes were paid for not confiscated, so were the property of the Govt.

Impressed bikes scheme was a bit of a panic measure meaning the WD got landed with a lot of duff or unsuitable bikes.
Many were sold back into the market soon after.
As for the rest, a good few got left behind with the BEF, just look at some of the pics of captured stuff in dumps after Dunkirk.

possibly the 1943 reg could relate to when it was released back to civvy street.Or it may even have sat unsold in a dealer till 1943.
who knows?

Andrew, there is a frame and engine of one of these on ebay at the moment which finishes in 8hrs. Yours will be a 1940 bike. As there were non manufactured after this. The one on ebay also has the C number stamped on the engine. Cheers, John

Must be a rash of them here's another one

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AJS-350cc-1943-/331181041093?pt=UK_Motorcycles&hash=item4d1beda5c5

or the same?

the above one carries an Irish plate so maybe thats the answer to 1943?

Ken the frame and engine on ebay at the moment (the owner cant find a frame no,I have told him where to look ) is likely an impressed one as it has a C number that falls in with the impressed block of numbers in OandM s book .but is not as far as I can see a twin port one,the numbers are 40/16 followed by the engine no The second one (a nearly complete bike on eBay with the Irish reg no, ) I looked at that one yesterday,looks like a matchless g3, with of course the twin port AJS engine,note the barrel stub is broken at one of exhaust pipe joint,I was , just trying to find out if the frame is correct, for that engine and not a bitsa bike. Andrew.h

email (option): warbikes@gmail.com

The irish reg bike seems to have an AJS frame,with the cast iron cradle, its not too clear in the pics.
I think its a bitsa, or at least upgraded,the mag platorm looks like an addition, likely this bike would have had coil ignition, mudguards look like Matchless ones, AJS ones were thinner material and more rounded.
lots of small bits non original.

The broken stub is common, but a G3 head wouldd go straight on.

looks set to go fro a very silly price for a mediocre bike.

Thats said, the fuel tank and all its instruments would sell for over a grand, and its a correct AJS one with the filler on the left.
I have seen ratty panel tanks, bare go for 600 quid.

As an aside, the term 'impressed' does bring up visions of confiscation but as Ken says, this wasn't the case at all. Some owners of vehicles did make them available to official organisations but this wasn't so with the armed services. They were nearly all from dealer / factory stocks and often therefore new.

Lorries were a different matter (probably because pre-war, they were built to order rather than for stock like motorcycles).

Prior to the reorganisation which led to the formation of REME, and RAOC taking over all vehicle supply, RASC and RAOC sourced their own vehicles. The RASC (responsible for 'second echelon' vehicles) used the term 'Impressed' and acquired quite a lot. RAOC used far fewer as front line units needed standardisation but they used the much more appropriate term 'Local Purchase' which far better describes the situation - these were simply vehicles purchased other than through central purchasing at the Ministry of Supply, often overseas but also in the UK.

From 'Motor-Cycling' 18/7/1940 :-



This reflects the Dunkirk losses and explains that machines were actually sold via dealers...who no doubt off-loaded their own dead stock first....