Right Bike, WRONG TIME
One of the most historic of all British marques, best known today for its road racing machinery like the 1939 supercharged 500cc V4, or the Porcupine twin which won the first ever 500cc World Championship 70 years ago in 1949, or the 7R 350cc ‘Boy’s Racer’ sohc single, AJS established a reputation for solid, dependable products in the Vintage era. These were primarily 350cc ohv singles and larger side-valve V-twins which were mainly used to power a combination – AJS built their own sidecars in large quantities, too. The thought of the firm making a four-cylinder bike during its ownership by the founding Stevens family seems as likely as – well, its rival Norton building one today.
But Norton has indeed created such a bike in its new 1200 V4, and if not for the Depression which eventually forced it into bankruptcy, and to become part of the AMC two-wheeled conglomerate, AJS might well have done so too. In an ill-fated attempt to kickstart falling sales, AJS produced at least two four-cylinder prototypes in the late 1920s, one of which has been uncovered and restored by the irrepressible Sammy Miller. It’s to be found on display in his eponymous Museum alongside the sole surviving examples of the 500cc V4 and the title-winning Porcupine. It’s hard to think of anywhere more appropriate for it to have ended up!
Born out of the Stevens family’s Black Country screw factory at Wednesfield, near Wolverhampton, which built its first motorcycle in 1897 and powered by a proprietary American Mitchell engine, the AJS marque was founded in 1909 after the four Stevens brothers – Harry, George, Albert John and Joe Junior – had begun producing their own engine designs at the turn of the century. These were sold to various motorcycle manufacturers such as Wolf and Werner under the Stevens name. In due course the inevitable happened, and in 1909 the brothers began building complete bikes powered by their own motors, but needed a new name to avoid associating them with the Stevens engines sold to rival manufacturers. Since the eldest brother, Albert John (known as Jack) was the only one with a middle
