Tom, I'll tell you about my experiences with Morgans and JAP engines. JAP, by the way, stands for J.A. Prestwich the man who started the company in the early 1900's. Thing about Japs, is they were very powerful and, for their day and extremely reliable. Morgan cars have had Japs from the day they came into existence. Back in 68 I started going to motorbike race meetings and believe it or not, the Morgans used to race in the very same races as sidecar outfits, after all, they were 3 wheelers. The lad who took me, also went onto race a Morgan in hill climbs and I remember the sound of those big V twin beasts very well. He once offered me a JAP engine, a single cylinder one, for £8 and I declined! Arrrghh! In the early 70's I first met a pal of mine, who was a professional speedway rider and his bike had a JAP engine, as did many other speedway riders, although they were disappearing fast at the time, but they dominated Speedway around the world for decades. I also remember an old stalwart of Jap engines, Alf Hagon, being the first man to top 200mph in Britain on a bike and I'm sure he did it with a V twin JAP. Back in the 80's there was a race between an old Morgan and the new Ford Sierra Cosworths at Mallory Park racetrack. Everybody thought that old wierd and ancient looking pile of scrap couldn't possibly beat the latest whizz car, but the Morgan blew it into the weeds. Great cars, great engines, we won't see their like again.

Major, #2, excellent story.  I always liked he style of the morgans with their healights on the fenders. 

 

T-Dog

Were not some of Lawrence's Broughs equipped with JAP engines too? Matchless also built huge powerful v-twins which were used in cars .

He certainly did Flash. Without looking, he put the biggest in his mighty SS100(?) The first place I started work had a school next door, where I noticed a different Brough every day. It turned out a teacher there had five of them and rotated them daily. They were getting mighty collectable then, now they are goldust.

 

Don't show it to T-Dog. it's British produced and therefore inferior to the Irish product

Flash, Matchless in name only.

 

T-Dog

No Tom, they really were Matchless at one time, with a long race pedigree. They were still very much around when I started, the G50's that is and they had a great sound. Never owned a Matchless, one of the few makes which managed to avoid my destructive talents.

Kinda like the looks major.  With all the retro styles in todays vehicles pity that this style is not making a comeback. Although Kawasaki tried with their Drifter model in the Vulcan line.  Looked like a vintage Indian.

 

T-Dog

I think no-one will accept pushrod/longstroke/dynamo as there the disadvantages outweigh evrything. Having said that Royal Enfield re-imports from India sell well but we have to rebuild them yet again over here. Indian trade unions are paid on piece-work and will not allow European standard finish.

 

Necessitating this warning. I'm glad to find this because last year arguing with Shanks Prima you all sided with him when I said Indian manufacturers were a load of murderous curry munching incompetents when it came to engineering to European standards.

 

WARNING - Indian Home Market Only Models  We don't import the following models due to non-compliance with current European homologation laws: Lightning, Bullet Machismo, Thunderbird & the diesel.  Although the 500cc Bullet Electra-X, which has been widely reviewed in MCN, Classic Bike, Old Bike Mart & Motorcycle Sport & Leisure, is a UK model, the 350cc version is not.  If you are offered a 350cc Bullet Electra, you will find it differs significantly in performance & specification from the UK model and does NOT have a lean burn engine! If you are offered a non-UK (or "parallel import") model, you need to be aware that these are NOT covered by our official warranty and that specification will differ significantly from UK models.  If you are planning to buy a new Royal Enfield, we strongly advise you to purchase only from an official dealer, as advertised on our DEALERS page

 

Pretty bike. But it's all styling

single front disc, 4 valve OHC. water cooled.