Models - 1928 -1977

This machine is an experimental AJW, designed to test out whether the firm could manufacture a new machine using a single cylinder engine. Its frame probably comes from a Coventry company, Packman & Poppe and is matched to a Druid front fork, which AJW were using on their…

This was the first of AJW’s single cylinder models, using a 500c Python twin exhaust port engine and a 4-speed gearbox from the same Coventry firm, Rudge Whitworth. John Wheaton designed a new frame to accommodate these powerful single cylinder engines, with six tubes radiating from the steering…

  By 1933, John Wheaton had simplified the frames on his machines. There were fewer tubes and the oil tank was now a separate component sited below the saddle. Leather fronted toolboxes were employed – a typical feature of this period. The unusual handlebar levers were made by…

This top of the range model is again fitted with a Rudge Python engine. However the power unit is a high performance Ulster version with a bronze cylinder head. The valve gear is of the ‘semi radial’ layout, where the two exhaust valves are widely spaced and operated…

The Red Fox was John Wheaton’s bargain basement model, being £20 cheaper than the luxurious Flying Vixen – necessary in the tough trading conditions of the early 1930s. Simple blade mudguards and no petrol tank rain gutter helped to cut costs, as did a reversion to a 3-speed…

This 1952 prototype was the new AJW company’s effort to make a popular lightweight machine. It features a 3in diameter single tube backbone frame, a telescopic front fork and cantilever rear suspension controlled by a spring unit under the deeply valanced rear mudguard. The 125cc unit construction two-stroke…

This sports moped is typical of AJW’s final years, by which time the company had moved to Andover, Hampshire. The Italian imported Minarelli engine is a 50cc two-stroke, powering a unit construction 3-speed gearbox. Roy Wheaton found this machine in Doncaster in a poor state, restoring it to…

This is AJW’s last motorcycle design and again features a Minarelli engine, this time enclosed in unusual glassfibre bodywork. The apparent petrol tank has a removable lid, revealing inside a steel fuel container and space for tools or luggage. By this time AJW had evolved into its third…