Ambassador Motorcycles is a British

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

manufacturer. Founded by racer

Kaye Don Kaye Ernest Donsky (10 April 1891 – 29 August 1981), better known by his ''nom de course'' Kaye Don, was an Irish world record breaking car and speedboat racer. He became a motorcycle dealer on his retirement from road racing and set up Amb ...

after the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the company produced lightweight motorcycles with Villiers and JAP engines and imported Zundapps from Germany. Production started in 1947 with a 197 cc Villiers-engined bikes. In 1953 a model was produced with electric starters and the first Ambassador twin appeared in 1957. The company was taken over by DMW in 1963 who continued production until they closed the company in 1965. Ambassador Motorcycles was reformed in late 2016.

History

Founded by Irish motorcycle racer and 1920s

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...

star

in 1946 as "U.S. Concessionaires Ltd.", the company was started to import American cars. Motorcycle development started with a 494 cc vertical twin

JAP ''Jap'' is an English abbreviation of the word " Japanese". In the United States, some Japanese Americans have come to find the term offensive because of the internment they suffered during World War II. Before the attack on Pearl Harbor, ''Jap ...

-engined prototype. In 1947 the small Villiers engines were introduced and proved successful so were used until 1964. Ambassador motorcycles were costly and did not sell well, but exports to Australia and New Zealand were successful.

Models

References

External links

Gallery
{{British motorcycle manufacturers Motorcycle manufacturers of the United Kingdom Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of England