BACK OR FORTH?

I found Ian Massey’s article about his AJS 500 single in RC176 both interesting and amusing. I am not an AMC man but my collection did include an AJS 650 CSR for several years. It was a nice bike apart from its tendency to regularly blow the head gaskets between the pots.

Regarding the differences between AJS and Matchless; my motorcycling career started in 1948 and I always thought that an AMC single with its magneto in front of the pot was an AJS and a mag behind the pot was a Matchless. Is this yet another example of the ignorance generated by reading The Blue Un and The Green Un for all those years? Malcolm Smith, member

Pre-war Matchless singles mounted their magnetos behind the cylinder, keeping them very hot and no doubt causing much hilarity among WW2 DRs when points needed cleaning or adjusting in the middle of the night and the muddle of battle. They continued the practice until 1952, when Matchless copied AJS and sited the magneto in front of the engine. Frank W