Barn Fresh G80

Here's one that got away. Went to a huge estate auction this morning which had about a hundred motorcycles. I stopped by the day before for a preview. 99'% were really questionable being of post patina condition. Then there was this, a 1967 Matchless G80, original and complete.

This bike came with the tank badges (kept off the lot for their own protection) tires that held air, great compression (although the compression release was not needed to turn it over) the gearbox and clutch functioned smoothly, and a clear title.

I had a couple grand to go after it knowing I was more than likely going to be well short. I had to go and see if I had a chance in hell to grab it. It went for $3750. Damn!

I just had to post this to share my pain.

The history books say that the last of these was built for 1966, and were described as "solid reliable sloggers", decidedly old fashioned by then. Although not without their charm, now if it had been one of the CS compy bikes (competition) for that year , you would have missed out on something.

Did they show the tank badges for it - would have been diamond shaped ?

That's just a G80. I think it was the benefit of auction fever. I don't think they're worth anything near a CS, which is a darn prettier bike. The G80 looks like a bike from the early '50s, and back then it would have been called a G80S for 'sprung' rear.
G80CS (1968, but they all look pretty much the same after the 'candlestick' era):


1949-50 Models were available with a swing arm and AMC's own 'candlestick' rear suspension units. Long and thin, these units only held 50cc of oil.
1951-56 the rear units were re-designed - the new ones were short and fat and got the nickname 'jampot'. In 1957 they started buying Girling units like most other manufacturers. Swingarm bikes got the designation 'S' for sprung.
Starting around 1950 -
Standard bikes were called G80 (18 for AJS) - rigid-framed street bike
Sprung street bikes were G80S/18S
Competition bikes were G80C/18C
Competition sprung bikes were G80CS/18CS
I believe they dropped the 'S' designation around 1960. Nobody was buying rigid frames by then. They kept the 'S' in CS until the end, though.

The most valuable would be the G80TCS/18TCS. 'T'' stood for 'Typhoon', a 600cc version of the motor which was legal in some forms of competition. I think only a handful were built (maybe 250), somewhere around 1960-61.

Then there's the G85 - The G80 motor in the Reynolds frame - 310 lbs rather than 381 for a G80CS. Perhaps 200 were built (I've heard numbers as low as 110). Bike was obsolete when it came out, because it was still 60 lbs heavier than the Jawa/CZ 2-stroke twin that was dominating scrambles in the mid-60s. That chassis was the basis for the P11 series, of which about 2500 were built.

Great find! Personally I hope the purchaser will carry out an as-found partial restore and keep the bike as original as possible. In my opinion an original roadworthy G80 in this condition is worth every penny of $3700 and probably more. Of course a CS would have sold for far more, however that goes without saying. Interestingly a Bud Ekins partially (mostly) restored Typhoon had trouble making $6K on ebay and did not make the reserve. You just never know. Dana

Rohan said:

The history books say that the last of these was built for 1966, and were described as "solid reliable sloggers", decidedly old fashioned by then. Although not without their charm, now if it had been one of the CS compy bikes (competition) for that year , you would have missed out on something.

Did they show the tank badges for it - would have been diamond shaped ?

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I did not see the tank badge.

I read some history also and remember something about the 1966 number with the G3 and also read that many of these bike got stuck in the dealers showroom so could have been origanally registered in 67.

There was a lot of mixing up back then with the G3 being identical but a 350cc and the G80 and Norton ES2 a 500. All three of these bike are almost identical except for badging and petrol tanks. I believe they all shared Norton components in these models like the Roadholder frontend and wheels, and all three with Matchlees frames and engines.

This was, for the most part, the end of an era.

BillT said:

Around '51 or so, AMC developed their own shocks for swingarm suspension. These things were short and fat and got the nickname 'jampot'. After a few years, AMC developed a more conventional shock, long and thin, which were named 'candlesticks'.

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Actually, the candlesticks came first (nothing conventional) for 1949, then the Jampots for 51, then the conventional shocks later.

But we get the drift.....

pvisseriii said:

and all three with Matchless frames and engines.

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With the proviso that the engine design had been altered to take the Norton singles-type gear oil pump, shoehorned into the timing cover there - somehow. So the oil flow doesn't fade away quite so much as the oil pump and associated gubbins wears...

$3,750. - Damn! Fixing up these old bikes is becoming a rich mans game.
Before long I won't even be able to afford the price of admission.

Rohan said:

pvisseriii said:

and all three with Matchless frames and engines.

Click to expand...

With the proviso that the engine design had been altered to take the Norton singles-type gear oil pump, shoehorned into the timing cover there - somehow. So the oil flow doesn't fade away quite so much as the oil pump and associated gubbins wears...

Click to expand...

In 65-66, AMC sold the Matchless G3, AJS 16, and Norton Model 50, which were essentially the same bike - AMC 350 engine, AMC frame, Norton Roadholders and Wheels.
Model 50:


The Matchless G80/AJS 18 had nothing in common with the ES2. In its last incarnation, the ES2 was a featherbed frame. The AMC bikes used the AMC frame, and though the engines look similar, they don't look alike when put side-by-side.
ES2 Motor:

G80 Motor:

AMCs used teledraulics rather than roadholders, except the G15/N15 switched to Norton forks/wheels after the initial run, and the G80 switched sometime in '65.
The P11 kept the teledraulics/AMC wheels until the end.

BillT said:

The Matchless G80/AJS 18 had nothing in common with the ES2. In its last incarnation, the ES2 was a featherbed frame..

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Nope.
The last G80 Matchys had been redesigned to have ES2 Norton oil pumps in them. Read the workshop manuals. And as the pics that started this thread.

And the last ES2 Nortons were badge-engineered G80 Matchlesses, no featherbed frames involved. As the pics that started this thread - Nortons called them ES2 Mk2.

In exactly the same vein as the twins went, with mix-n-match bits all over the shop...

Cheers.

From the NOC website itself.
http://www.nortonownersclub.org/models/ ... s2_2_2.jpg

Rohan said:

And the last ES2 Nortons were badge-engineered G80 Matchlesses, no featherbed frames involved. As the pics that started this thread - Nortons called them ES2 Mk2.

In exactly the same vein as the twins went, with mix-n-match bits all over the shop...

Cheers.

Click to expand...

I stand corrected. I didn't know about the Mk2 - If I ever saw one, I probably thought it was a Model 50.

I was surprised to find that the NOC even had a pic of one there - when we looked a few years ago, there was no details whatsoever (beyond the headline) on this model - one that Nortoneers would rather ignore ? At least the more obscure models are getting some airtime these days.
Cheers.

Whoever forked out those kinda bucks must`ve really wanted it... back in the day, those 'grey-porridge' bikes were looked down on, & justly so...a swingarm BSA B33, or Norton featherbed single, you could at least slot a decent Triumph twin into, but those horrid AMC things, nah...chuck `em in the bushes...

BillT said:

I stand corrected. I didn't know about the Mk2 - If I ever saw one, I probably thought it was a Model 50.

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Many people never saw late singles unless they hung around the showrooms, to which floors they were stuck for years, near the back.

J.A.W. said:

Whoever forked out those kinda bucks must`ve really wanted it...

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back in the day, those 'grey-porridge' bikes were looked down on, & justly so...a swingarm BSA B33, or Norton featherbed single, you could at least slot a decent Triumph twin into, but those horrid AMC things, nah...chuck `em in the bushes...

Click to expand...

That is quite inexpensive for a late 60s single, anywhere.
Even in Indonesia Egypt India etc they ask more than that. ?
Although its not exactly pristine....

Having a few old singles mayself, I'd say they are an acquired taste.
Kept off the motorways, they are fun to pobble along on - and are just as fast as other traffic on minor roads. Its when you go for a run with the veteran and vintage guys, who in some cases don't have clutches, gearboxes kickstarters or even brakes, that you realise how much bikes have progessed over the years !

As noted in the Commando section, C.B.G. recently featured the Commando, & commented positively on how its performance ability - to easily cope with modern traffic - set it apart from the old plonkers/chunterers/wheezers, which hold up other road users.. at their peril...

Most club rides/riders with older iron avoid motorways like the plague, since thats not what they are all about. And ending up as a bonnet emblem can spoil everyones day.
Bigger stuff built in the 70s was more made for motorways, so no surprises there....

Even with late big brit bikes the motorway is useful only for long distance
work. The limit in the east is really 70mph so hardly a challenge for
bike handlilng. Old state roads more fun even if you need to keep a careful
eye out for The Law. An old boat anchor like this single would be a great ride
when the limit is 55 or lower which it often is. A Commando or a Trident is
a bore under these conditions.

Onder said:

Even with late big brit bikes the motorway is useful only for long distance
work. The limit in the east is really 70mph so hardly a challenge for
bike handlilng. Old state roads more fun even if you need to keep a careful
eye out for The Law. An old boat anchor like this single would be a great ride
when the limit is 55 or lower which it often is. A Commando or a Trident is
a bore under these conditions.

Click to expand...

That area has some great roads. Used to ride out to Bennington, VT for donuts when I was going to school in Troy (old NY7/VT9). Back then, closest Dunkin Donuts was in Bennington.

If, by 'bore' - you mean cool/relaxed/easy/comfortable/well within potential - then I guess that those lesser classics may be experienced as fraught, even at glacial rates of progress..