Sherman, set the wayback machine to 1977!
Hobot, we submit for your approval one wicked bad ass chopper. Fishtail pipe, hmm, hmm, hmm... yummy. Nice lines for the forks/hi-rise bars, long straight shot - looks trick. The big white wall on the back, however, has gotta' go...
No pesky side panels here, pure open view of that awesome Norton mill. What ?!? no open belt drive, I smell fun time, spend some dough, or better yet talk about it endlesssly, esp whan drinking as in "Know, what Ima gonna do? Huh, know what Ima gonna do? Ima gonna put a belt drive on 'er. One these days, ima gonna do that"
Complete with "Norton-Davidson logo"...(Harley frame?) And a decent red paintjob looking at these photos, my favorite color for a vehicle. At least it is not green, green is bad luck on a bike, esp. a chopper... (HD lore, look it up.)
Two square headlamps set up on the forks, and a totally bitchin' skull (hope it has red lamps in the eyeballs!) Other than the (spoiler alert - don't read this if you don't want to spoil the upcoming surprise) spider web stitched into the seat, only one skull and the seat decoration...this bike has an understated chopper elegance. Too many scooters have too many skulls, crosses, and paint jobs inspired by dragons or Conan the Barbarian for my taste, but to each their own.
Bunch of cool spikes on the front forks, and a red anodized horn visible.
E-start 850, with a shifter mod for the front footpegs, of course. Red anodized details abound. Check out the radical spiderweb stitching on the classic spring seat. I don't see much evidence of isolastics and looks to be a real hard tail all the way - this baby will shake yer teeth out.
Right side; funky rear fender bracket, custom kicker, chrome tool box. Points are open, pipe tape tired and ready to go, ouch, this old girl needs a little TLC. And wonder how effective that pipe tape is? Here in Arizona, any extra heat is too much.
Rear view, that is a real P-pad, not for the faint of heart, nor, shall we say, a, "clear throat," a, ahh, well, umm, a BBW, (trying not to be insensitive here, back in the day a guy would just say "fat chick" and be done with it) and certainly not for much more than a ride to the bar. No detailed shot of the tail lamp, the right lamp/housing would really set this bitchin' sled off.
Might sound like I am making fun of this scoot, but I really like it. However, my 74 restore is too much $ already for my budget. This bike is spendy at $7K, located in Sun City, Arizona on Craigslist. Dude must be ready to upgrade to a golf cart. Likely will never sell, he has it listed under "auto parts" not "motorcycles", why I do not know. I will probably send him an e-mail and let him know. I came on it serendipitously, was looking at the ever dwindling supply of Austin Healey parts, typed in "Norton" and and forgot to change to motorcycle search and voila, the Norton E Start Chopper. Kismet, maybe I should buy it, might be my magic carpet ride, take me back to 1977 to do it all over again?