lovely bike (loose that silencer!)
Ben, this bike has much more than the ad says. The engine supposedly is a "through the back door" ex comp department item that was smuggled out piece by piece by a fellow Aussie who worked in the comp shop. Col rode it in sixties UK and Euro Internationals and it's history is pretty well documented.
In it's recent resurgence as a dirt tracker ridden by Cols son Glenn, the engine was rebuilt by the legendary Frank Stanborough, probably the best Matchy bloke in Oz. It's got a Venolia B50 piston, Carillo G50 spec rod, Compy Goldstar cam profile, ported, centre port head, stainless steel valves, electronic ignition and is balanced like a Swiss watch. The muffler is on there to pass the stringent 92db noise regulations at the Aussie Titles, the last time it was ridden.
My suspision is it's a replica, I wouldn't dream of losing one of my father's bikes.
I'm sure Glenn would agree with you Slidey but Col's wife Pat is selling up all of the race tackle so the money raised can be distributed equally amongst the kids. Sometimes the need for money overcomes sentiment.The thing that bothers me is that Pooley's done a pretty ordinary job with the eBay listing.
Not only has he misspelled M
etisse but he's underdone the bikes history and specifications. The photo is crap, they didn't even wash and detail the bike. It should also have listed it internationally rather than just in Australia. Terry's a really nice bloke but he's not doing the sale any favours with that listing. You can also tell his speedway/dirt track leanings by pricing the Jawa Metisse 2k higher than the Matchless when in truth the genuine period Matchy is a 4k better bike than the replica Jawa machine, and it's not just in the frames. The Matchless engine alone is worth twice that of the Jawa 2V.