I saw in the news today that an 1954 AJS E95 Porcupine will
be making a grand return to the classic TT in August, a massive 61 years after
it last raced in the Isle of Man and is being celebrated by a riding a lap of
honour at this year’s Jurby festival – certainly a sight I wish I was going to
view!
AJS were the only British manufacturer that built racers
that were not retailed to the general public, producing four E90’s then moving
on and making four E95’s. This precision made machine has to be one of the
world’s rarest and most renowned motorbikes and is nothing short of stunning. Perceived
during the Second World War and on a tight budget the E95 was originally
designed to be a supercharged motorcycle, this was halted due to regulation and
it needed to go back to the drawing board to make it perform without it. With
changes made it went on to carry out its brief racing career, but to this day it
remains the only twin-cylinder motorcycle to have ever won the 500cc World
Championship.
It’s amazing to me that after such a long time off the road
and the fact that only four of these bikes were ever produced that we still
have them surviving today. My hat comes off to Robert Ianucci for putting the
money, time, effort and hard work into restoring such a massive part of
motorbike history. After hearing that it took a lengthy 33 years to bring the
E95 back to its full glory, needing extensive searching for data and parts that
were not mass produced, plus even finding factory personnel involved in the
production of the Porcupine I can say I am totally in awe of the efforts put in
to what must have been the most ultimate restoration project I've have ever
heard of – a true labour of love in my opinion. It is no mean feat as these
machines share little with their manufactured counterparts.
Finding one up for sale must be every classic motorcycle
lover’s dream (I know it’s mine) and the last I heard of one selling, I believe
at Bonham’s, it was anticipated to reach bids in excess of $750,000. This is no
“barn find” or something a little bit rare you may stumble across on eBay once
in a while, owning something like this is a once in a life time opportunity,
something Robert Ianucci is a lucky man to be able to say he has had the
pleasure of managing in his. With prices like that, my final thought would be
that not only is this the epitome of classic motorcycle royalty, but most
likely the worlds most expensive too.
