Nater_Potater
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:lol: :lol: :lol: That makes this whole thread worth reading! The only way it could smell better is if you burn bean oil in it.auldblue said:And to quote my ten year old daughter " it smells of motorbikes in here"
:lol: :lol: :lol: That makes this whole thread worth reading! The only way it could smell better is if you burn bean oil in it.auldblue said:And to quote my ten year old daughter " it smells of motorbikes in here"
Rohan said:dynodave said:I don't buy the published numbers.....matching # 200205
Has anyone checked that number with the NOC records officer. ?
If the records exist, they can advise build date/dispatch date.
Without that info, who knows what might have happened at the factory - or even at the dealers.
illf8ed said:Actually I do have a copy of that factory record sheet. 200205 docket number 40114, fastback, invoice 5272, shipped to Coburn & Hughes...presumably in England. Ship date 20.2.72. As no fastback was issued with combat engine....
Rohan said:The Combat was only announced in January of 1972, so that seems a little unlikely !!
Rohan said:Although as discussed here previously, there seem to have been stockpiles of the 1972 models already on hand,
so actual production of them must have started a few months earlier.
L.A.B. said:Rohan said:The Combat was only announced in January of 1972, so that seems a little unlikely !!
You are thinking of production Combats though.
Rohan said:Although as discussed here previously, there seem to have been stockpiles of the 1972 models already on hand,
so actual production of them must have started a few months earlier.
We've not seen any evidence and there's nothing to suggest there was any "stockpiling" of 1972 models.
illf8ed said:Docket 40114 all shipping to Coburn & Hughes on 20.2.73 not 72.
illf8ed said:There may be some evidence. My 201881 has a mfg date Dec 1971 while above 200205 shipped Feb 20, 1972. Looks like later numbers were shipping to the US and earlier numbers shipping later in the UK indicating stock piling or some other reason. My first combat 201123 had mfg date Oct 1971, more evidence.
illf8ed said:Confusing as the later number shipped 3 months before the string above. Were they holding back for some reason?
Rohan said:Perhaps the 1st bikes into the warehouse were the last out !
Rohan said:So if there were early 72 Fastbacks still unsold in early 1973,
could that have delayed the official announcement of the new 850 models ?
Clear the old models before showing the new....
Madnorton said:It may have happened around a time of the NV moves, latest number was first to move to new premises and later production stacked in front off it. I doubt if they really cared about stock control in those days.
Madnorton said:NV did move, there was a move from North Way to Central Way in early 1972 as reported in Motorcycle Sport April '72 which shows the new production building.
Madnorton said:Strange, that all the people that put these bikes together in Andover, the management of the time etc, all seem to be very dead or do not wish to talk about their exciting times building these bikes.
illf8ed said:As no fastback was issued with combat engine....
Rohan said:What a great find LAB, thankyou for that.
Note that date out on the far right (and thats not a political comment !).
BTW, anyone seen a fastback with that combat engine and disc brake ??
Anyone got a pic of one ?
That could be a rare beast ?
P.S. Could the factory have reserved blocks of numbers for particular models,
and so were still building bikes to order long after others in a similar number range ??
Certainly this happened in the 1930s at Nortons ( under different management).