DURING THE 1960s and into the 1970s the American market was a vital one for the British motorcycle industry – and a successful one too.
Immediately after the Second World War the American economy was booming, whereas Great Britain was to suffer several years of severe austerity, including food and fuel rationing. In addition, during the late 1940s, virtually every motorcycle produced by the British industry had to go for export.
Ariel had been the first British marque to employ a full-time factory representative in the United States; that was C. E. Hopping, during 1939. Bill Johnson, himself a motorcycle enthusiast, who was to play a major role in the subsequent post-war sales boom of British bikes in the USA, had fallen in love with the Ariel Square Four and had written to Edward Turner, the designer of the machine. This was to result in Johnson becoming the Ariel (and Triumph) importer for the western seaboard of the United States in the years after the war.
Edward Turner had joined Ariel during the late 1920s, and the Square Four was launched at the end of 1930. Subsequently Turner moved to Triumph, shortly after Ariel owner Jack Y. Sangster had acquired the Triumph brand in early 1935. In mid-1937 came the launch of the famous Triumph Speed Twin, a trend-setting model designed by Turner.
After the war Edward Turner (now not merely the Triumph chief designer, but effectively managing director) went to the States, and he and Bill Johnson established a closer friendship, based on mutual respect. Before he came home, Turner offered Johnson the Triumph distribution rights for the entire United States.
By 1950, with Triumph back in full production, it was decided that the United States needed two importers, one in the west (which it already had in the shape of Johnson Motors) and one in the east – and it was here that a new company was needed. So Triumph themselves set up the Triumph Corporation, with its base in Baltimore, Maryland, and as its president they recruited an expatriate Englishman, Coventry-born Denis McCormack. McCormack worked hard, and together with Bill Johnson’s efforts in the west, the Triumph brand became the most successful of all British motorcycles across the Atlantic for the next three decades.
The Triumph marque was the most popular British motorcycle in the USA during the post-Second World War era. This Cycle World advertisement dates from 1966.
A BSA advertisement from Cycle magazine in May 1965.
The other British marques enjoyed mixed sales fortunes in the North American market.
The BSA distribution network in the USA followed a similar line to that of Triumph, with Hap Alzina in the west and Rich Child in the east. When Edward Turner became director of the BSA Automotive Group during the 1950s, he was contracted to spend six months of each year in the USA. Sadly, he mainly concentrated on Triumph, rather than BSA. Even so, there is no doubt that Edward Turner did play a vital role in the sales and promotion of the Triumph and BSA brands in the North American market.
An American-only BSA 650cc Hornet for the 1966–7 model year.
Cotton was one of several small British manufacturers who exported dirt bikes to the United States during the 1960s.
In 1951 the Brockhouse Engineering Group had purchased the ailing Indian Motorcycle Company of Springfield, Massachusetts. Indian motorcycle production lasted until 1953, but Indian (i.e. Brockhouse) also acted as importers for a host of British marques during the 1950s, including Norton, Vincent, Royal Enfield, AJS and Matchless. Then in 1959 AMC acquired Brockhouse, and the Indian import activities ceased the following year. Instead, the New Jersey-based Berliner Corporation took over the imports of AMC products, including AJS, Matchless and Norton; Berliner had already gained the Norton franchise a few months earlier.
The 1968 American version of the 650cc BSA Thunderbolt, with high-rise handlebars and twin leading shoe front stopper.
During the 1960s Berliner was to import large numbers of Nortons, though fewer AJS and Matchless, and become the second largest importer of British machines into the United States, behind BSA/Triumph.
A Norton advertisement from June 1960, just before Berliner became the exclusive Norton USA distributor.
The Berliner Corporation took its name from two brothers, Mike and Joe Berliner, the latter holding the post of President. Originally the Berliners had entered the motorcycle industry with the German Zündapp brand during the early 1950s, adding Ducati to their portfolio at the end of 1958. By the time Norton joined the family, Berliner had a ready-made and successful dealer network. It was Berliner who pressed Norton to produce its 650cc model, launched in the spring of 1961 as the Manxman (and sold from its British launch in 1962 as the 650SS).
The 1963 Norton 400 Electra was the result of a request from Berliner to provide a machine to compete with the very successful Honda CB77 305cc twin.
But even a six-fifty was not big enough for the Americans and Joe Berliner persuaded Norton to build a seven-fifty (the Atlas, in 1963), together with the 750 Scrambler (sometimes referred to as the Ranger).
A September 1965 Cycle World advertisement for Norton’s mighty 750 Atlas; again Berliner had prompted the British factory into producing this model.
From the Scrambler was developed a more serious off-roader, the P11. This was a pukka desert racer that went on to win many sporting events. The basis of the bike was a twin-carburettor Atlas engine mounted in a Matchless G85CS moto-cross chassis. Owing to what was already a lighter set of cycle parts and the wide use of aluminium, the weight was reduced by well over 40 pounds compared to the Scrambler. The P11 also sported high-level exhausts, with small lightweight mufflers. Although it was not appreciated at the time, this and the Scrambler trail bike represented an early attempt to offer a powerful, large-displacement, twin-cylinder on/off-road design, something the modern motorcycle industry was to embrace two decades later.
From the Scrambler came the much more serious off-roader, the P11. This was a pukka desert racer, using a twin-carburettor Atlas engine mounted in a Matchless G85CS moto-cross chassis.
One must applaud Joe Berliner for coming up with the concept. Of course he knew the American market. So Berliner and the British Norton factory can well claim to have been the true pioneers of what is today a popular niche market – on both sides of the Atlantic.
After AMC folded in mid-1966, Berliner continued for a few months as the US importer. Eventually, however, the new Norton Villiers organisation set up its own American distribution network, and this coincided with the arrival of the new Commando, which, together with the BSA and Triumph triples, was the last mass-production large-capacity British motorcycle of the ‘old’ industry.
The Norton Villiers boss, Dennis Poore, ran a very successful advertising campaign, exclusively in the two best-selling American motorcycle magazines, Cycle and Cycle World. By pre-booking for years ahead, Poore not only reserved the inside covers but also negotiated a bargain price. This campaign kept the Commando in American buyers’ sights through from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s.
Although the Commando proved a steady seller in the USA, it was Triumph and BSA which set the cash tills ringing across the Atlantic during this period. The most popular model was the Triumph Bonneville, in 650 and 750cc versions, followed by the BSA and Triumph triples, in the shape of the Rocket 3 and Trident respectively.
Norton Villiers boss Dennis Poore negotiated a special deal with the two leading American motorcycle magazines, Cycle and Cycle World, to promote the Commando model; this one dates from August 1972.
However, at the start of the 1960s the American importers were still demanding that BSA should continue building the Gold Star single. They told the British factory clearly that if they could not have the Gold Star they did not want other BSAs. And so, instead of phasing out the Gold Star, BSA had to continue production. So why was the Gold Star so much in demand? During the 1960s road racing was less popular than other branches of the sport in the United States, and Americans loved the competitive side of motorcycling. They preferred off-road, dirt-track racing to road racing on tarmac. This was exemplified by Short Track, Flat Track and TT events. The American TT event was nothing like the Isle of Man version; instead, it was a dirt-track race, with left- and right-hand turns, and a jump somewhere in the course.
The AMA (American Motorcycle Association), which formulated the rules for all branches of the sport at that time, had at the top of their tree the AMA Grand National Championship. During the 1960s this series was staged over forty-one road circuits and 145 dirt tracks. To become the Grand National Champion, a rider had to score in as many of these events as possible, both dirt and tarmac, to amass enough points to become the AMA’s number one rider. The most suitable machine to embrace all these events was the BSA Gold Star.
But time stands still for no-one, and by the mid-1960s the Gold Star was no more, having finally been axed from BSA production. In its place came various BSA and Triumph twins to do battle with the American Harley-Davidsons, which were permitted to use a capacity of 750cc because they used side-valve engines, while the British challengers were limited to 500cc.
As the 1960s merged into the 1970s the AMA at last collaborated with the European-based Fédération Internationale de Motorcyclise (FIM), which controlled world motorcycle sport. This also brought about the new Formula 750 racing class, on both sides of the Atlantic.
At last British and American bikes were on equal footing – Harley-Davidson had to build an overhead-valve engine as its old side-valve advantage had been axed. Harley produced the XR750, while the British Norton (Commando), Triumph (Trident) and BSA (Rocket 3) arose to compete both in the United States and in Europe. A feature at this time was the Transatlantic Match Races. This Anglo-American contest first took place over Easter weekend 1971, and the venues were Brands Hatch, Mallory Park and Oulton Park. The first Transatlantic Match Race proved a massive success and, although staged in England, aroused considerable interest on both sides of the Atlantic.
The success of BSA, Triumph and Norton in motorcycle sport played a big part in keeping up the demand for British motorcycles in the United States. But after record exports to the USA during the late 1960s, financial difficulties were to affect the giant BSA group in the early 1970s. This meant that both BSA and Triumph models would soon be hard to find.
The 1970 BSA 650 Firebird street scrambler; another American market model from the Birmingham factory.
Although the BSA Group’s problems and ultimate demise did not immediately affect sales of the Norton Commando, political events, as explained elsewhere, were to involve Norton Villiers in the problem. By the late 1970s the last Norton Commando had rolled off the production line. This marked the demise of the British motorcycle as a mainstream product not just at home, but in the United States too – a sad day indeed.
Introduced at the London Earls Court Show in November 1964, the Velocette 200cc Vogue was a major sales failure for the Birmingham factory.