Matchless X4 990cc V-twin 1935 framed BMS picture free p&p UK for Sale

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Matchless X4 990cc V-twin 1935 framed BMS picture free p&p UK For Sale

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Matchless X4 990cc V-twin 1935 framed BMS picture free p&p UK:
$14.20

Ablack and white picture of a 1935 Matchless X4 990cc V-Twin

The text on the picture is as follows:-

\"The 1935 990 cc Matchless X4\"

Theres more to motorcycles than the mere metal and materials. Performance, value for money, appearance, handling and a whole lot of practical considerations but the most important factor is an intangible. It is style, class, magic in a name, success through competition, perhaps a combination of all those. A word for it is perhaps charisma.

George Brough had it with his lordly ton-plus superbikes and enough of it rubbed off to sell his SS80 in large numbers for him; it had almost the same engine as this Matchless. In some ways the Matchless was more attractive than the Brough; it was lighter, easier to handle as a solo and had better brakes. It cost £20 less at a time when that would buy you a twostroke miniature as a runabout.

But did it sell? Not likely!

The engine might be the same and some of the other bits even better - but it had no class, no charisma. Its makers, the Collier Bros of Plumstead might have been champion racers in the pioneer days but they never cashed in on that. Collier was not a name to put on a motorcycle which was unfortunate; it smacked of digging holes underground. They had opted for making large quantities of keenly-priced bread-and-butter machines rather than a few superbikes. They did not rejoice over racing and competition work.

It seems strange to modern eyes that Matchless should sell their engines to a rival manufacturer (QEC fitted the same 85.5 x 85.5 mm sidevalve; Morgan threewheelers used a watercooled edition). But times were hard in the middle Thirties and a maker was glad of any sales which would keep the business active.

Maybe they did not rate Brough so much as a competitor as an ally helping to keep the big-twin alive.

The drysump Matchless had a slightly upstage badge.engineered counterpart marketed as an MS. This had a forked-con-rod bigend assembly instead of side-by-side rods. This was the power unit used by Geo Brough though he specified a forward-mounted Magdyno. The cutaway fins to clear the Ajays magneto chaincase were the give away on the Brough Superior.

Wonderful value for money, that big twin Matchless, with its 8 inch brakes, 4 speed box, and 3½ gallon petrol tank. It carried in the catalogue the extraordinary codeword identification of YAOLG (standard) or YAONJ (de luxe). But still no charisma - C.E. Allen.

Drawn by Stephen Ruffle

A superpicturein a30 x 24 cm. (12 x 10 inch) size clipframe.

The picture offered does NOT have the \"SAMPLE\" watermark!!