40 Year Old Tank

Matt Spencer · Aug 25, 2013

Thats not a Norton , Rohan . Its just a 750 Honda painted up to look like a Norton . :wink:

Rohan · Aug 25, 2013

Thats all right Matt, you never having owned or ridden a Norton we wouldn't expect you to understand...

Rohan · Aug 25, 2013

Ron L said:
My '73 blue metallic 750 Roadster came with gold trimmed with black tank and side cover decals. These were not die-cut but were one piece with clear vinyl between the letters. The kickstart side cover decal began to peel about 6 months after I bought it (in May '73). Of course by then there were no 750's in the showroom, but all 850's. The parts man sold me die cut gold side cover decals with no black trim, stating that it was all that was available. He showed me the bikes in the showroom (850's) and all of them were solid color die cut. By the way, the gold is darker on the one-piece than on the die-cut.

My bike still has the gold/black tank decal and solid die-cut side cover decals. I have a couple sets of old stock one-piece black trimmed side cover decals, just never put them on. I have never seen a one-piece 850 side cover decal (black trimmed), so I assume they were discontinued for the 850's. Of course it was not unusal for Norton to use up what was "in the bin" before moving to the new part so it is possible they used some of the tank decals on the 850 (striped) tanks. I could seem them using them up on black tanks.

Thanks Ron.
Just like in the 1972 brochure.
be interesting to hear back from these guys if they have the same decals/vinyls.
This was the only model of blue Norton to have gold decals ??

Also goes some way to (maybe) explaining the black-edged waterslide decals I have.
(they may not look gold with black edging, but when you peel back the paper, they are...)

BTW, what did Nortons call that shade of blue on the 750 for 72 and 73.
This is not the elusive "Pacific Blue" thats in the 73 brochure, is it ?
Doesn't seem to be Fireflake Blue like the 850 had ??

Rohan · Aug 25, 2013

This is the sidecover to go with that fireflake golden bronze tank JRB mentioned..
Note that these are likely to be waterslide decals, with the thin black edging.
Not like that vinyl one the subject of this thread ??

Robert_Norton said:
Two pictures of 850 Roadster tanks from 1973, in red and blue. The blue is from the 1973 Norton sales brochure, and the red tank sold recently on eBay.

Ron L · Aug 26, 2013

Rohan said:
This is the sidecover to go with that fireflake golden bronze tank JRB mentioned..
Note that these are likely to be waterslide decals, with the thin black edging.
Not like that vinyl one the subject of this thread ??

While I don't doubt the possibility this scheme existed, the golden bronze cover in the picture has the stripe low and to the rear from all the original ones I have seen. This makes me suspect it is not original.

As to your question about the blue with gold lettering, I have never seen a metallic blue 850 that had anything other than silver. Similarly, I have never seen an original '73 (steel tank) 750 with silver lettering.

To add to all this confusion, Norton never changed the part number (062019), although the '72 parts book refers to it as "Gold/Black edging", while the '73/'74 book calls it simply "Gold" .

When I bought my 750, there were two blue Roadsters and both had gold lettering. The blue '71 Fastback in the brochure shows a black trimmed with gold on the tank (fiberglass), but I have never seen a blue Fastback. (Although I did have a NOS blue Fastback tank, sadly it had no lettering).

Rohan · Aug 26, 2013

Ron L said:
While I don't doubt the possibility this scheme existed, the golden bronze cover in the picture has the stripe low and to the rear from all the original ones I have seen. This makes me suspect it is not original.

I sort of agree. Buts its not too far off the look (and measurements) of the original black-n-gold factory sidecover I still have.
Those widely spaced pinstripes on Arts tank don't look entirely like other factory ones either.?
But if its an early 850 Mk1, maybe they were still getting the hang of how to make the new twin pinstripes ... ??
Or there was more than one person doing the striping ...

Ron L said:
As to your question about the blue with gold lettering, I have never seen a metallic blue 850 that had anything other than silver. Similarly, I have never seen an original '73 (steel tank) 750 with silver lettering.

To add to all this confusion, Norton never changed the part number (062019), although the '72 parts book refers to it as "Gold/Black edging", while the '73/'74 book calls it simply "Gold" .

When I bought my 750, there were two blue Roadsters and both had gold lettering. The blue '71 Fastback in the brochure shows a black trimmed with gold on the tank (fiberglass), but I have never seen a blue Fastback. (Although I did have a NOS blue Fastback tank, sadly it had no lettering).

Note that that 850 sidecover gold-edged decal with black edging I show above has the Norton Part Number 06-4014 printed on it.
This is the SAME PART NUMBER that is in the 1973 Parts Book for the sidecover decal for the first 850 models - with just 'gold' as the description. (1973 printing)
I have had this decal for a very long time.

Ron L · Aug 26, 2013

Note that that 850 sidecover gold-edged decal with black edging I show above has the Norton Part Number 06-4014 printed on it.
This is the SAME PART NUMBER that is in the 1973 Parts Book for the sidecover decal for the first 850 models - with just 'gold' as the description. (1973 printing)
I have had this decal for a very long time.

You jogged my memory, so I got into the box of decals I've collected over the years. I have a couple sets of the very same 06-4014 labeled 850 decals and they are also Gold with Black. The problem is, these sets I got from Bob Schanz (DomiRacer) about 15 years ago. They were reproductions and die cut. I also have some that don't have any part number and are one piece rather than vinyl. I don't remember where I got them, but I picked up a whole pile of decals from a sale of an old dealer. They likely came from there.

I've traded away most of the solid decals, preferring to just paint them on with a stencil. I have Gold/Black 750 and 850 and Silver/Black 750 and 850. I know.....this Norton stuff is a disease.

bentrod · Aug 28, 2013

Here's a picture taken with a digital camera.

Art

Ron L · Aug 28, 2013

The original one-piece tank decal on my '73 750 appears to be darker gold. It's certainly is darker than my die-cut side cover decals. And notice the different shape to the "N".

40 Year Old Tank

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