Helping a deceased friend sell his bike collection

A few weeks ago I posted a pic of a Norton a friend gave me a couple of days before he passed. I helped getting four of his bikes ready for his "celebration of life". I have a list of about 25 to 30 bikes that i will be selling for his niece. Of the bikes there are 3 Nortons that people here might be interested in so i just wanted to do a heads-up to see. I would rather them go to Norton fans then just go to a auction. The bikes are a 1968 Fastback and I think this is the first year and it has from what i remember very low numbers maybe in the first 100 made, another Fastback this one is a 71' and I think it has an aluminum tank and body work, and a Beautiful 66" 750 Atlas. His bikes ranged from a pristine 75' MV Agusta 750S America, HD Mert Lawell framed XR750, to a Velocette 350 MAC. I anyone has any websites or other info that would be a good resource for me I would appreciate it as this is a very big job I have got myself into!! Here are a some pics of few of the bikes.

Your friend sure did a good job collecting bikes. I hope they all go to good homes and get used now and then.

Heres a good site for getting the word out for above average bikes for sale

http://raresportbikesforsale.com/

Correct - 1968 was the model year the Commando went on the market. The first two of them were on the N-V stand at the 1967 Earl's Court Motorcycle Show. They were both silver color with the dreaded "Green Blob" insignia. The name "Norton" wasn't anywhere on the bike - all the castings that bore the insignia had been redesigned to delete it. There was a lot of work that was quickly redone to get the insignia back into production. I'm not sure how long it took to get the production up and running. I worked at the Wolverhampton R&D facility and rarely saw a Commando after it went into production at Plumstead Road.

The funds that had been allocated to set up a mobile test instrumentation system for me to run had been squandered on that stupid idea and I finished up as one of the test riders instead. Getting paid to ride the Commando 8 hours a day, 5 or 6 days a week was fun (except in the depths of winter).

I realised the company was headed for oblivion within a year or so and left to emigrate in April 1968, to join Boeing. My last project at N-V was trying to get the Starmaker engine in what became the AJS "Stormer" not to wipe out the cylinder barrel in the first few miles of use. I guess my successor managed to do it.

Does anyone know how many Stormers were made and sold?

What is that sloper stuffed in the Featherbed?

Danno said:

What is that sloper stuffed in the Featherbed?

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Vincent Comet.
If it’s an ex Dominator frame, that makes it a ‘ComDom’...
That’s quite funny... to a Brit at least!

Thanks for the replies, pm's and information. In the next week or so I will be taking pic's of the bikes and documenting them. I will get back to the pm's that people sent asking about certain bikes. The Norvin or the ComDom if I remember correct was built in England and there are lots of pic's and paper work documenting the work. I love this bike and may keep it for myself. Thanks again for the help.

There is quite a bit of enthusiasm or machines other than Nortons around here, so you should list all the machines. The XR Harley and Egli Vincent are quite desirable, as I imagine the rest of the collection to be.

Absolutely, like Danno says, please post the whole list here...

Hi guys,
I will do that but give me a week or so. I can only go as fast as the family will let me so keep that in mind. My plan is to take very nice and detailed pics of each bike and then have that in a Smugmug gallery that can be seen by the public along with the documentation of the bike. There are helmets also from the Isle of Mann in the collection also.
Doug

These will do me , thanks . Dont suppose fifty bucks would cover it ? .

Whats your address, I'll get them shipped right over!! Haha I guess fifty is a start.

Wow.

What's the legality of running a raffle if it isn't for charity? (I assume you have a responsibility to the estate)

I'd plunk down a hundred bucks on a ticket with a chance to win an Egli Vincent!

That would be cool to do a raffle but doubt if they would go for it. What i would really love to do is get some partners, buy all of them and start a museum and a gathering place like Billy Joel did.

Or maybe you cd just get Billy Joel to buy them, and we could all hang out at his place?
Make him sing "Piano Man" over and over and over and...

Or Jay Leno, he and Mars actually knew each other.

Hold on here, I've got my eye on one of those bikes...... Jay and Billy have enough cool stuff.

dougmatson said:

That would be cool to do a raffle but doubt if they would go for it. What i would really love to do is get some partners, buy all of them and start a museum and a gathering place like Billy Joel did.

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Doug, there are enough museums already. And one day all our bikes will be consigned to museum pieces!

Those fabulous machines need putting in the hands of enthusiasts who will cherish AND RIDE them!

That Egli certainly gets my vote, Godet Egli’s in particular are just fabulous, fabulous machines.

Yes I agree they need to out in the public! My favorite is the Norvin.

Unfortunately, and it’s not a criticism, the relatives will just, I suspect, want to monitise and de clutter as it sounds like they are not into bikes. I don’t envy you the responsibility and wish you good luck. It would be good if the bikes went to riders and back out into the wild.