A Brief History of the Marque: AMC
The name of the Matchless Motor Cycles company was changed to AMC in
1937. AMC was not a manufacturer in its own right, but rather the parent
company of a group of motorcycle manufacturers which included Matchless,
AJS, Norton, James, Francis-Barnett, Sunbeam and others. They sold the
Sunbeam name to BSA in 1943.
In 1946 Freddie Clarke joined AMC as Chief Development Engineer after
a row with his former employers, Triumph. In 1947 AMC absorbed Francis-Barnett,
and in 1952 further extended the empire by soaking up Norton. 1958 saw
the introduction of unit construction 250cc AJS/Matchless machines, and
in 1960 leading light Bert Hopwood resigned and went to Meriden. That same
year AMC posted a profit of some 200,000 pounds, not a great result when
compared with BSA's 3.5 million. The following year saw them in the red
to the tune of 350k sterling, and with the closure of the Norton plant
at Birmingham the following year and the merger of Norton with Matchless,
the future was beginning to look rather bleak.
During the 50s and 60s the main export product for AMC was the AJS/Matchless
range - the road bikes were very similar, often with only the badges distinguishing
one marque from the other. A similar situation occurred with James and
Francis-Barnett.
If you have a query about AMC Motorcycles, or wish to share some pearl
of wisdom about these classic British machines, please
