When I was a teenager, I had the opportunity to purchase a beautiful, rare, Matchless G85CS, a purpose-built machine for desert racing in America. If I remember correctly, I paid $200 for it, and when I say beautiful, I’m not BS’ing. It was super nice with all the correct parts including the AJS 7R magnesium rear hub, center mounted aluminum oil tank, 1 3/8” spigot mounted AMAL GP carburetor, fiberglass tank and side panels, etc. You get the picture, it was sweet.

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During those years, I was heavily involved in racing, and although Mom and Dad helped, for the most part, I had to fund my racing exploits. By the time 1983 rolled around, I had advanced to the expert class in motocross and desert racing, and to keep up, I needed a new motorcycle. In 1983, Honda had a program where they offered dealers 4 CR motocross bikes to help sponsor racers and I was offered a new 1983 CR250R. To take advantage of the deal, I had to make the tough decision to sell my Matchless. Racing was great in 1983, the year I won my first and only overall in the desert, but I have always regretted selling my Matchless.

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Throughout the years, Dad had several Matchless motorcycles. They were good machines, but they were always sold or traded for reasons that I do not remember.

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Dad loved to reminisce and it was not uncommon for him to purchase the same make and model of motorcycle that he had previously owned. The Matchless Competition Scrambles motorcycle is one such machine. I do not remember when Dad purchased the Typhoon, a 600 cc competition scrambles machine, but it remained in his collection until his passing.

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Like my father, I also like to reminisce, and when my father passed, I felt like I would like to keep the Matchless in the family. Fortunately, I was able to accomplish that goal, and although it was not the G85CS that I sold 37 years earlier, it was a rare Matchless Competition Scrambles machine, a 1961 Matchless G80TCS. The G80CS and G80TCS were the predecessor to the G85CS, all competition scrambles machines specifically made by Matchless for desert racing in the US. Somewhere between 125 and 300 Typhoons were built between 1959 and 1961 and most were exported to the United States for desert racing.

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The history of this machine is unknown, but it was sold to my father as an original. I dispute those claims, but it does possess many original parts, and I think it is bitchin. When I inherited the machine, it was partially disassembled due to an oil leak. I briefly recall that Dad said that it started leaking oil from the oil pump.

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Working on liquidating my father’s estate, the Matchless sat in the garage collecting dust until George Canavan had the brilliant idea of an all-English motorcycle exhibit, The British Invasion”, at the National Automobile Museum. Committing the Typhoon to the museum exhibit forced me to reassemble the Matchless for the exhibit, a good thing. After getting her reassembled, I got her to fire with two kicks, but it still needed some work when the exhibition was over. In the process of readying the Matchless for the exhibit, I gave her a bath, not a good thing, which became evident when the exhibit was over, when it was determined that the magneto was a ball of rust behind the point cover. I will work on it this winter and hope to have it running for some spring riding. Until then, I will look forward to my first ride on a Matchless in several years.