AJS Cars

Looking to diversify, in 1927 AJS obtained a contract to build bodies for the new Clyno 'Nine' Light series. 

The pictures below were taken at the company's Walsall Street Works in 1927 and show the Motor Car Body Assembling Shop, the Motor Car Body Panelling Shop, the Motor Car Body Erecting Shop, the Upholstery Dept. and the Finished Motor Body Shop. For further photos of the AJS factories click here 

Whilst this started well, the car did not prove popular and in 1929 Clyno went into liquidation. This came at a bad time for AJS, motorcycle sales were not as good as expected and they had also just began producing a commercial vehicle chassis' and so they decided to produce their own light car

The AJS car was designed by Arthur G Booth, who had designed of the original "Clyno Nine" and moved to AJS following the demise of Clyno. The chassis was built by John Thompson Motor Pressings in Bilston. The bodies were made in Walsall Street and the final assembly took place in Graisely Hill. The car was fitted with a four-cylinder side valve Coventry Climax engine with a capacity of 1018cc (60mm x 90mm bore and stroke) and an RAC rating of 8.92 h.p. which put it in the £9. 0s. 0d tax class.  

The first AJS car was produced in late 1929  Although it was not officially launched until the following year, it was reviewed by "The Light Car" in an article entitled "AJS Introduce a 9hp car" published on 13 December 1929. 

The picture below (dated 24 July 1930) shows George Stevens explaining to Miss Josephine Trix, an American Vaudevillian who was then appearing at the Hippodrome Theatre, and Arnold Heckle secretary of the Wolverhampton Industrial Development Association. the finer points of the new A.J.S. 'Nine".

When the car was formally launched in August 1930 it was well received in the motoring press.  Click here to read a review of the AJS saloon from "The Autocar" on 1 August 1930.

AJS later exhibited at the Olympia Motor Show in October 1930.

Four "models" were on display

• a black fabric 4 door saloon with a sliding roof (an optional extra) priced at £237. 10s. 0d
• a coach-built saloon with aluminium panels and finished in royal blue at £240.0s 0d
• an open two-seater with dickey at £210. 0s. 0d
• a chassis devoid of bodywork

As can be seen from the photos below, all three models can still be found. The fabric bodied saloon is a members car, The coach-built saloon and the open two-seater with dickey can be found at the Black Country Museum.

Click here to see an advertising brochure detailing the models available. 

Initial sales had been good, and increased further after the Olympia exhibition, but the car was expensive compared to the competition and so in February 1931 prices on all models were reduced by £11.0s. 0d and a cheaper 4 door fabric saloon, the Richmond, was launched priced at £197. 0s 0d. Although similar in overall appearance, the cost of the Richmond was reduced by replacing the hide interior with leather, and simple horizontal sliding windows replaced vertically opening side windows. 

The picture below shows Millie Stevens in the first AJS Richmond off the production line.  

To see the advertising brochure for the AJS Richmond Saloon, click here. 

The advert below from "The Autocar" on 3 April 1931 includes details of the range of models now available and their prices.  

In an attempt to reduce the price further, AJS decided to build its own engines. These were a carbon copy of the Coventry Climax engine, the one below from an AJS car (A1081) now in the Black Country Museum. When word reached Coventry Climax, they were none to pleased and the last batch of engines supplied were of such poor quality that AJS had to strip and rebuild them.   

However all this was to no avail. The Wall Street Crash had sent ripples through the financial markets, The Midlands Bank foreclosed on its loan and in October 1931 AJ Stevens & Co (1914) Ltd went into voluntary liquidation.

It is not known how many cars AJS built in total. The highest known surviving chassis number is 1064 so it could be that just over 1000 were made, but the late Geoff Stevens, the last member of the Stevens family to work for the company, thought the total number should be nearer 1300.

The right to produce AJS car passed to Willys-Overland Crossley in January 1932 for £9,500.0s.0d.

In this advert that appeared in Autocar on 29 January 1932 Willy's Overland Crossley ("WOC") state that "Production facilities are proceeding rapidly and whilst we are not yet in a position to promise a definite delivery date for the AJS model, we can give delivery of a limited number of AJS cars that have been built in the AJS factory in Wolverhampton".

It seems likely these models built by AJS, but finished off by WOC were the early "D" chassis numbers with records showing the following AJS 9 cars were registered at Stockport

• D7 (JA2405) on 3 January 1932
• D5 (JA2404) on 30 January 1932
• D18 (JA1969) on 2 February 1932
• D4 (JA2406) on 5 February 1932
• D3 (JA2407) on 4 March 1932 (thought to be the car featured in the Autocar Road Test 29 April 1932) – see AJS cars in print)
• D6 (JA2409) on 8 March 1932
• D16 (JA2464) on 11 March 1932

From 24 March 1932 the numbering changes and all the cars after this have numbers above 1500 (except for D1 – see below), so did WOC change the numbering after they had sold the cars made by AJS and started producing wholly "WOC" cars?

"The New AJS Nine" was relaunched in March 1932. This differed from the original AJS in two main respects

• only 1 body type was offered, a coach built 4 door saloon with either 3/4 or 1/2 panels and a fabric covered top
• the 3 speed gearbox was replaced by a 'silent 3rd' 4 speed unit 

This advert appearing in "The Autocar" on  18 May 1932. 

Initially priced at £229. 0s. 0d, the company soon realised it was in competition with it's other vehicles and the price was reduced to £189. 0s. 0d. 

Despite the price reduction, expected sales did not happen. Crossley Motors severed its links with Willys Overland and carried on the WOC business on its own, but the financial problems continued and in August 1933 the company went into voluntary liquidation, having only produced about 300 cars. 

Prior to that, in June 1932 "The Light Car" magazine also ran an article on a Jensen open four seated tourer, built on a modified AJS chassis completed for Jensen motors by Chamberlain, King and Jones Ltd on sale for £215.00.

It seems probable that it was AJS who produced the D1 (JA2831) a 9.8hp which was registered on 7 October 1932 in Stockport. Geoff Stevens recalled that they had made an AJS "10 hp" (hoping it would look better value than the 9 which was rather expensive for what it was), but AJS did not proceed with it. As WOC registered the car they must have acquired it from AJS but did not sell it (they had no spares for the engine) until they had sold all the others and were giving up AJS car production.

WOC also produced an AJS Twelve with "synchro silent" transmission and "Anti-Vibro" steering . D2001 (JA3190) was not registered until 17 January 1933 but was thought to be the 11.9hp prototype that was displayed at the Motor show at Olympia in October 1932.  

The car was priced at £325, It had a 1.5 litre o.h.v engine but never went into production.

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