As a new member to this forum I had to answer the motorcycle questions to verify that I am a bike enthusiast and not just a spammer. Tough questions, I think I barely passed, but here I am. While I answered the site admins questions, I also asked him one. What does the "T" stand for in a Matchbox G80TCS?

Answer, Typhoon.

My understanding of the story behind this model is that it was produced primarilly at the request of Cooper Motors in Los Angeles. For desert riding and racing the G80CS had been quite popular for some time. However Triumph twins in lightweight Rickman frames and such were starting to outrun the 500 singles. Cooper got Matchless to bore and stroke the G80CS up to a 600 single, the G80TCS. These sold well in the U.S. but few were sold elsewhere, including Britain. Mine was a 1961 model that I bought in 1971 and by then it was pretty well thrashed. This model came with a 1-3/8" Amal GP carb, but I used a Concentric most of the time.

This bike was originally owned by the salesman at British Motorcycles, the AMC dealer in Vancouver. He told me that they had only sold three of these. So there are likely only a handfull of these in Canada. I had it for about 25 years, then sold it to a collector.

John
(From Sheldon's Emu forums)

Matchless 1940s-60s