Stormer
The history of this two-stroke engine began in 1962 with a scrambles
motor, the 'Starmaker', designed by Bernard Hooper and John Favell. This
was later taken up by Peter Inchley, who developed a Villiers special
road-racer that became known as the 'Starmaker AJS'.
The 250cc scrambles version, known as the 'Y4', later became the
'Stormer' and brought the initials AJS back into the headlines with
Malcolm Davies winning the 1968 British Championship.
Running alongside the 250cc bike, AJS enlarged the engine size to 370cc
and called this the 'Y5'. In a slightly modified guise, the 250cc and 370cc
models were exported to the USA as the 'Y40' and 'Y50' respectively. In 1971
the 'Stormer 410' was introduced.
In 1974 the lineage was taken over by the Fluff Brown AJScompany, who
continued to make and service the scrambler, which became known as the
'FB AJS' and went on to introduce an enduro version. The AJS initials, being
almost the sole legacy of the original Stevens brothers, now adorn the
splendid machinery turned out from the
'AJS Motorcycles Ltd' based at Andover.
37A Trials
Built only in 1969, the AJS 37A-T trials bike was developed in the heart
of the Cotswolds by Malcolm Davies.
An extremely robust lightweight, with the frame developed from the immensely
strong AJS scrambles model, the 37A-T was assembled at the Norton Villiers
plant in Andover, Hampshire.
|
