Rare AJS going to auction with Burns & Co.
For the AJS enthusiast and collector, there will be the opportunity to acquire an unusual – and very rare – machine from the legendary British motorcycle brand this weekend. Burns & Co. Auctions are offering a 1930 AJS ‘Nine’ car - yes, an AJS car - as part of their Classic & Collectable Car & Motorcycle Auction on Sunday, 19 January.
In terms of classic bikes, AJS motorcycles are relatively plentiful today, but it’s believed that only around 35 AJS cars survive worldwide, with possibly six or less in Australia. As such, the Burns & Co. auction may be your last chance for a long time to acquire a genuine piece of AJS history.
While AJS’s history as a motorcycle manufacturer is well-known, their time building four-wheel vehicles is almost forgotten. This included manufacturing buses and two cracks at building a car. The first, in 1923, used proprietary engines from Meadows (think JAP or Villiers, but for cars), but less than ten were built before production was abandoned. AJS produced radios next, then the buses, followed by car bodies for the ‘9’ light car from Clyno.
Like AJS, Clyno was a British brand that had started building motorcycles before moving into cars. But unlike AJS, they would become better known for the latter than the former. Showing how much of the British motorcycle and automotive industry was interconnected at this time, Henry Meadows had been Clyno’s Works Manager before leaving to set-up his own business producing engines and transmissions.
Clyno went into receivership in 1920, but was resurrected in 1922, focussing on car production and launching a mid-priced model, the ’10.8’ (referring to the car’s taxable horsepower under British registration rules). Offering a combination of economy, reliability and affordability, the 10.8 and its derivatives were a success, with annual production going from 623 in 1922 to more than 11,000 in 1926.
A year later, Clyno launched the ‘12/35’ and introduced the smaller, lighter and cheaper 9 as a direct rival to the Austin Seven. Attempting to go head-to-head with Austin in the light car arena failed, which combined with other factors, led to Clyno going into receivership in 1929.
This left AJS in the lurch somewhat, as they had been anticipating ongoing business providing bodies for Clyno. To recoup some of their losses, AJS decided to produce their own car along similar lines to the 9, but with a larger engine, longer wheelbase and other differences.
Announced in 1929 and on sale from mid-1930, the AJS Nine (also written as ‘9’ and ‘9hp’) was available as a two-door convertible with dickey seat, four-door sedan with fabric body and four-door sedan with ‘coachbuilt’ (ie., metal) body. All were powered by a 1,018cc (62ci) four-cylinder sidevalve engine supplied by Coventry-Climax, producing around 25hp (taxable horsepower was 9hp, hence the name), matched to a three-speed manual transmission.
The fabric body seen on the car to be auctioned by Burns & Co. was part of a trend in the 1920s that saw premium and pauper cars alike so equipped – everything from humble Austins to prestige Bentleys. Also known as Weymann bodies, these timber-framed, fabric-covered bodies were not designed to be cheaper than metal-panelled bodies (although they usually were), but rather to eliminate the squeaks and rattles common in timber-framed coachwork. The patented Weymann construction method eliminated a lot of this noise, with the additional bonus on smaller cars like the AJS Nine being lighter weight, which helped with engine performance.
For all its benefits, fabric-bodied cars usually deteriorated faster than metal-panelled cars, making original examples rare today. This applied even more so to economy models like the one produced by AJS.
Despite being well-received upon its debut and enjoying strong sales initially, the Nine arrived at a bad time for AJS. Their motorcycle sales were falling and other side ventures struggling, while the effects of the 1929 stock market crash and Great Depression that followed had reached the UK by this time.
In an effort to keep sales ticking over, AJS reduced the Nine’s price and added a spartan model, the ‘Richmond,’ early in 1931. Neither worked, nor did bringing engine manufacture in-house.
As most enthusiasts know, AJS went into voluntary liquidation in October, 1931, after which Matchless acquired the motorcycle side of the business and kept the name alive through to the 1960s, with NVT doing the same into the 1970s.
AJS remained in the car market after the liquidation, too, but nowhere near as long.
AJS’s automotive assets were acquired by Willys-Overland Crossley in January, 1932, with the car relaunched as the ‘New AJS Nine’ a couple of months later. Offered only as a coachbuilt four-door sedan, the New Nine was essentially the same as the old one, but with some styling changes, updated suspension and a four-speed transmission. However, production lasted less than a year before Crossley went bust, too.
Across the 1930-33 period, there’s no definitive answer to how many examples of the Nine were built. Most published sources put totals at around 3,000 for AJS and 300 for Crossley, but the AJS Car Club in the UK claims the combined total is closer to 1,300 cars, based on recollections of one of the Stevens family who worked at AJS at the time. Either way, survivors today are like hen’s teeth, making the car on offer through Burns & Co. worthy of closer attention.
A real barn find, this 1930 AJS Nine sedan is offered in complete, unrestored condition. The history of this car is unknown, but a windscreen sticker shows it was last registered (in Victoria) in 1955. How long it was in running condition after that is also unknown, but the auction listing states that it has been sitting for some time. The odometer shows 376 miles and a spare engine will be included with the sale.
The car’s body (aft of the cowl and windscreen) is of the fabric type, which lines up with it being a 1930 model. Despite being 95 years old, most of the fabric is there and in decent condition, but would still need replacing. Presumably, the same applies to the timber framing underneath, based on what sections are visible.
Whether the fabric body was locally produced is unknown, but certainly possible, given Australia’s import tariffs on complete cars at the time. Wire-spoke wheels with AJS centre caps are authentic, but the three-piece bumpers may not be original to the car, as most period images of Nines from the UK and Australia show them without bumper bars of any type.
Inside, the condition of the seats, dash and doorcards reflect the state of the rest of the car. It’s all there, but a full restoration would be required. Seats are trimmed in leather, all the door hardware is there and the centrally-mounted dash has Smiths gauges - speedometer, ammeter, oil pressure and clock.
Being so rare, this car would present a restoration challenge, but as mentioned, there is an owner’s club in the UK who may be able to provide guidance. This car’s exposure through JUST BIKES and at the auction may bring attention and support from local AJS owners, too. For the serious AJS enthusiast, this would be a fascinating project and a worthy addition to their collection.
This 1930 AJS Nine sedan goes to auction with Burns & Co. on Sunday, 19 January. Pre-bidding was sitting at $6,000 at time of writing. As it’s being offered unreserved, this car will sell on Sunday, no matter the final bid.
To see the auction listing, click HERE.
If you’re not tempted by the AJS, some of the motorcycles in this auction include a 1974 Ducati 750 GT and 1976 860 GTS, a 1938 Norton 600, 1966 Triumph Speed Twin, rare, restored 1923 Raleigh 250 (unreserved), 1928 Harley-Davidson 350 single (unreserved), 1919 Indian Powerplus project and others.
Pre-bidding on these and all other lots is open ahead of the live webcast auction on Sunday, 19 January, 2025. The first lot will go under the hammer from 10:00am AEDT.
Bid in person at Burns & Co’s Victorian auction rooms - 4 Market Drive, Bayswater, 3153. You can also bid online, via phone or through absentee bidding forms.
For more details on how to bid, inspection times, conditions of sale, etc., click HERE or call one of the numbers below.
For Melbourne enquiries, call Anton Cooper - 03 8657 4292 or 0427 383 531
For Newcastle / Central Coast enquiries, call Ashley Burns - 0408 618 294
