1972 Commando Paint Schemes

Hello Gentleman,
Its been a while since Ive been here. In the mean time the Norton has nearly been completed. Im at the stage of painting it. Its a 1972 Combat commando. It also has the fibre glass tank and side panels. I have rang a couple of places who have indicated that fibre glass tank may be waist of time due to the new fuels. But I have read here people using the Bill Hirsch tank sealer with success. So I may go with that option. I do like the popular black and gold look of the Norton, but did that come out in 1972? The only photos I can see are in plain colours etc. The original on my bike is fireflake blue. But I think that would be too costly to paint in that blue?? Also does anybody know of a good painter that knows these bikes. I live in Victoria Australia. But am happy to ship overseas if the painter is happy to do it from O/S the tank isnt too heavy to ship.

Regards Bryan

Hi Bryan,

Can't comment on Commandos going to Oz, but in the US black with gold pinstripe was my first combat bought with 300 miles on the clock in '73. That scheme was available from '71 here. Black was the only color that came with a pinstripe. All others had only the Norton logo on the tank. '72 colors for US roadsters were black, signal red, signal orange, yellow and fireflake blue. Roy Bacon says Golden Bronze and Roman Purple also, but I have never seen a '72 with these.

Ya know Bryan,

I think you might be better off working with a steel tank. After years of frustration with a glass one I dumped it and I've just heard so many painful stories. A paint job tends to be expensive so why not put it on a good tank?

bryan_woods said:

I do like the popular black and gold look of the Norton, but did that come out in 1972? The only photos I can see are in plain colours etc.

Click to expand...

Black with a gold pinstripe was certainly a standard colour scheme for the 750 Roadster used during '71-'73, but note that the 750 Roadster tank pinstripe design is different to the 850 models, and no side cover stripes. 750 Interstates also only had a single wide tank stripe.

1972 750 Roadster
http://www.reproductiondecals.com/image ... 0_72_2.jpg

1972 Interstate
http://www.reproductiondecals.com/image ... 0_72_1.jpg

If you are willing to send the tank across the ditch, I can recommend Pat Reardon in Auckland. He's just done my tank and side covers in fireflake sapphire blue, and done an excellent job. He specialises in Commandos, and does all the paint work for Classic Cycles in Wellington. His basic charge is $1000, although in my case he spent about $300 in repairing the fibreglass tank and says that he has virtually not dealth with a fibreglass tank that did not need repair. He also resurfaced the inner lining of the tank; I had bought the product we used; I can't remember the name of the product we used offhand, but no doubt could dig it out if necessary.

Pat does not use decals; all logos are sprayed on. I don't have pictures of my tank yet (I am waiting on some chrome, and will post some of the completed rebuild hopefully within the next couple of weeks); but I have attached a couple of pictures that he gave me - a fireflake orange tank, and a red one. He will probably try to talk you into buying a new metal tank in preference to using the fibreglass one. I have also attached a picture of my tank after it was scraped down, and a prior repair was dug out by him and reglassed.

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt5/ ... Norton.jpg

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt5/ ... getank.jpg

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt5/ ... paired.jpg

Pat's email is Pat Reardon <barracudadesign@xtra.co.nz>
and his website is also barracudadesign.

Thanks Gents,
for the good information. I dont mind the black and reverse gold D L.A.B. I havent seen one before. I do think I would go for that look. Thanks Chris for the photos they look very nicely done. I would very much like to see your finished tank. I will give Pat an email and see how much to post. I seem to hear a lot of bad feed back for the fibreglass tank. Maybe I need to save up for a steel tank. Who are the best people to deal with getting a steal tank? What is there to look for? Does it look out of place with the fibreglass side panels? Hmm more questions it would seem.

Regards Bryan

I would say do not spend a lot of money painting a glass tank because the paint job probably won't last very long. It seems that coating a tank only buys two or three years. My 750 had a glass tank, painted black, when I bought the bike. The tank cracked and ruined a nice paint job. I patched it, touched up the paint, and ran it a bit longer. Then the slides started sticking. So I cleaned everything up and had the tank professionally sealed. It was good for two seasons then the paint started bubbling. I bought another glass tank off ebay, coated that myself with Caswell, and have been running it ever since. I've noticed recently that the gelcoat is starting to look a little bumpy though. I think the fuel is getting through.

So I'd recommend a budget paint job and start looking for a steel tank. Basic black with gold decals would look pretty sharp and you wouldn't be out as much money when the gas gets it.

Debby

I took most of a winter doing my best paint job (only several hours for a real painter) only to have it crack on a trip. After that I did a couple of basic paint jobs that both eventually bubbled. The sealer I tried lasted a year or so and then I bought a steel one.
I can't recall where but an Ozzi friend told me there is a specialist in Sydney that carries enough to build a Norton. You might Google Norton over there and see what is available.

Talk to Jon Munn at classic style at seaford in melbourne he has contacts for paint guy that does an amazing job also may be able to help you out with a seccond hand steel tank. But be warned if you go to his shop you will want to spend all day looking at his collection of bikes and dont take your wallet as you will want to but one or all of them

kanaka It happened to me .
Ian :mrgreen: