Rohan wrote:

britbikemike wrote: ...BTW, it was said it appeared because stuff made in Plumstead was different dimensions, the blueprints supposedly hadn't been updated in years, and the Plumstead machinists didn't know how they were supposed to be made (don't believe the blueprints, they need to be like this !).
Apparently heads wouldn't fit on cylinders, and cylinders wouldn't fit crankcases, etc...

This is scary!

20/116xxx would be correct for a '66 atlas. I've seen about a dozen over the past year, and on some engines the '2' isn't fully stamped because of the curvature of the engine case. On my '68 title, they didn't put the slash. in '72 Norton stopped using model prefixes, as they were only building the Commando by then. This is also why there's a jump in serial numbers, with 1972 starting at 200001.


I think due to internal issues with AMC's consolidating of manufacturing to try to stave off bankruptcy, assembly of Matchless, AJS and Norton moved around. In the early '60s, Engines were assembled at Wolverhampton, Frames were made at Manchester, and final assembly was at the Plumstead works. Some engines were assembled at Plumstead, and those were stamped with a 'P'. Some think that Plumstead engines were superior, as this was where all the AMC competition engines were built.
AMC went bankrupt in 1966, and Manganeze Bronze bought the company, which became Norton-Villiers. Matchless and AJS bikes were reduced to Norton-powered machines (G15s, Model 33s, and Matchless-badged P11s), AJS 2-strokes and leftover singles. By the fall of 1968, Matchless was done, AJS was later sold off and concentrated on small 2-strokes, and Plumstead was shuttered by the summer of '69.
Norton production moved to Andover for some final assembly, with most manufacturing of engines and parts, and the balance of final assembly continuing at Wolverhampton. I know Manchester was the original origin of the isolastic frame, but don't know when production at Manchester stopped.

BillT wrote:
Some think that Plumstead engines were superior, as this was where all the AMC competition engines were built.

This is a bit of a stretch Bill, the AMC Competition shop built the competition engines.

And until 1963, all Nortons were built by Nortons, at Nortons in Birmingham.

The problems with Nortons built in Plumstead after the move in 1963 was that the machinery was all moved to Plumstead (?), but the operators weren't. At Nortons, the story also goes that the operators knew how the machinery was worn, so added all the suitable wooden chocks etc to get the dimensions and clearances right. It took the folks at Plumstead quite a while to get this all sorted out. Meanwhile, amending the designs to remove things like cylinders spiggotted into the head eventually improved production - and things fitting together...

What was at Manchester ? Got any details ?

Rohan wrote:What was at Manchester ?

The frames were made by Reynolds Tubing. I've heard "Manchester" mentioned before, but I'm not sure what the connection is to Reynolds or why they would choose to build frames there instead of Birmingham?

I don't know what was actually done at Manchester but found this interesting article about life at Plumstead:
http://archives.jampot.dk/General/Working_for_AMC.pdf

The remarks I've heard about Plumstead engines being superior were obviously made by Matchless fans.