Ambassador was perhaps the most interesting of the crop of lightweight motorcycle brands that sprung up post WWII. This was largely in part due to the proprietor, Kaye but also because the products were a cut above the average in quality and design.
Irish born and of Polish heritage (his name was Donsky before shortened and anglicised to Don), Kaye Don was the archetypal gentleman racer of the inter-war period. He had served in the Royal Flying Corp in WW1 and post war he raced motorcycles, cars and speedboats and was even involved in land speed record attempts.
To find out more about Kaye Don see:
The Vintagent article on Kaye Don
The Ambassador moped was a brave attempt at a quality British moped to take on the likes of the NSU Quickly and other continental success stories. It was something of a swansong for Don as he retired the year after the Moped was introduced and (perhaps quite astutely) sold the business to DMW just before the real decline in the British Motor Cycle industry fully kicked in.
There is a great write up on the Ambassador Moped on Andrew Pattle's Moped Archive: http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~pattle/nacc/arc0372.htm
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25/01/2023:
I've received this information from Ambassador guru Michael Easton:
There is quite a story behind Ambassador's Moped, but suffice to say that the Ambassador Machine Register currently (Jan 2023) records just seven surviving Ambassador Mopeds. Essentially just re-badged and repainted Solifer Type 47 mopeds from Finland, but with the perfectly good Solifer engine removed and fitted with the not-so-good Villiers 3K engine.
Thank you Michael.
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