Is this metalflake paintscheme original Norton?

Lorenzo · Nov 7, 2012

dear All,
I like very much the silver metalflake paint scheme below that Reggie posted on the blog some time ago, but I am not completely sure it this is a Norton Commando Roadster original colour. It is quite rare to find googleing, but also one of my friends has his Commando painted with exactly this colour.
What do you think?

Is this metalflake paintscheme original Norton?

Matt Spencer · Nov 7, 2012

Fibreglass ,

The gel coat . They did Blue & bronze METAL FLAKE too . Not to be confused with Metallic, which is fine grain. Where metalflake is metal flake . :mrgreen:

solarmoose · Nov 7, 2012

Don't think Norton ever used that paint scheme, at least I've never seen that in any publication or actual.
I have an silver Interstate tank but with no flake. I've seen blue, red, purple and orange in flake but never
a flaked silver. Then there's the non-flake black, yellow, orange and the white w/red/blue stripe.
Wasn't there a dark blue Interstate?
Other colors?

rightshiftrick · Nov 7, 2012

Lorenzo said:
dear All,
I like very much the silver metalflake paint scheme below that Reggie posted on the blog some time ago, but I am not completely sure it this is a Norton Commando Roadster original colour. It is quite rare to find googleing, but also one of my friends has his Commando painted with exactly this colour.
What do you think?

Fireflake Silver was offered for 1970 in the early Roadster. The WIPAC switch and little bit of the side cover I see look to be about '70. If it has the headlight 'halo' and small center stand, then there is a chance that is came in Silver Metalflake. I'll add that all of the fire flake colors I've seen had the black/gold logos instead of the solid black. Haven't seen an original silver though.

RSR

Torontonian · Nov 7, 2012

I am concerned the decal is less than original. Early 70- looking bike .

DogT · Nov 8, 2012

What I see in the pic is a metal head oil line, the early 69/70 Wipac switch on the left handle bar, the original EW petcocks, points, the tank cap flips to the front and yes it does look like a 69/70 model. From the brochures I've seen, that's not an original color, but yes I think they did use it on the very early 68 FB. The 69/70 tail lamp faring did have silver metal flake on it, however, as a gel coat unless it was a solid color then it was black.

Dave
69S

B+Bogus · Nov 8, 2012

Lorenzo said:
dear All,
I like very much the silver metalflake paint scheme below that Reggie posted on the blog some time ago, but I am not completely sure it this is a Norton Commando Roadster original colour. It is quite rare to find googleing, but also one of my friends has his Commando painted with exactly this colour.
What do you think?

Yes, Metalflake Silver is a Commando colour, and I have a tank which left the factory that colour.

I believe the correct decals may have been waterslide with a border of a different colour, but not totally certain.

DogT · Nov 8, 2012

The 69 Brochure lists 'Choice of 3 colour schemes:- Red/Green/Silver'.

Dave
69S

Rohan · Nov 8, 2012

DogT said:
The 69 Brochure lists 'Choice of 3 colour schemes:- Red/Green/Silver'.

Dave
69S

And note that 1969 had those 2-tone fireflake red and fireflake silver Fastbacks, and the 2 tone fireflake green and fireflake silver Fastback that someone showed here.

P.S. Did they have Roadster models in 1969 though ???

Commandodave · Nov 8, 2012

DogT said:
What I see in the pic is a metal head oil line, the early 69/70 Wipac switch on the left handle bar, the original EW petcocks, points, the tank cap flips to the front and yes it does look like a 69/70 model. From the brochures I've seen, that's not an original color, but yes I think they did use it on the very early 68 FB. The 69/70 tail lamp faring did have silver metal flake on it, however, as a gel coat unless it was a solid color then it was black.

Dave
69S

There is a chap that rides a 68 Fastback rat bike around Baltimore that has the silver metal flake paint.

DogT · Nov 8, 2012

Rohan said:
P.S. Did they have Roadster models in 1969 though ???

That's a good question. I always had the impression that the 20M3S engine came out originally as just the 'S' model, but I am not sure. The Roadster isn't in the brochures until 70 (but that could be a 69 production date), but I'm not sure that means anything. It would be good to know. It could be they made the S, R, FB and Roadster intermixed with numbers until they came out with the 71? Was the FB with the peashooters a 71?

My favorite design would be a Combat in FB style with the peashooters (Roadster pipes) and euro bars. It could have 'Fastback 750 Combat' on the side panels and the very early FB style Norton logo on the tank, FF Blue of course.

Dave
69S

StuartM · Nov 9, 2012

Can not say I have seen a silver flake tank. If it is in the gel coat it is probably original.

I clipped this from eBay some time ago. The add said it was original. I think it went for around $6k Only green pic I could find like the 70 brochure showed. Just thought I would share that.

StuartM · Nov 9, 2012

This looks like 69 silver flake

B+Bogus · Nov 9, 2012

Just to elaborate on my previous post (and a reply to Lorenzo's PM

), here's a photo of my silver tank, flatted off ready to be re-born as a FIreflake Red 'S' Type.
The traces of other colours are more recent layers which have beeen (mostly) sanded off.

it's a bit like an archaeological dig cutting through all the layers of what contemporary owners considered 'good taste', until One finally hits the Jurassic layer of late '60's bling 8)
Interestingly, most of the stuff I've done has been yellow at some point!

I've also got a blue one to do back to original, and in the meantime, here's a not-quite-perfect match for Golden Bronze with graphics being painted on

It's worth pointing out that with all the stuff i've had my hands on the flake isn't in the gelcoat. The blue tank in the background of the first photo shows where the flake has been sanded through - it's quite a fine layer.That said I haven't seen a 'flake taillight fairing in the flesh yet.

StuartM · Nov 9, 2012

B+Bogus said:
it's a bit like an archaeological dig cutting through all the layers of what contemporary owners considered 'good taste', until One finally hits the Jurassic layer of late '60's bling 8)
Interestingly, most of the stuff I've done has been yellow at some point!

Very Interesting. That is definitely silver. My theory is that when they made the Flake tanks and side covers they painted over the flawed ones yellow and red. I just sanded some yellow side covers to find one blue flake and one purple flake.

Rohan · Nov 9, 2012

StuartM said:
Very Interesting. That is definitely silver. My theory is that when they made the Flake tanks and side covers they painted over the flawed ones yellow and red. I just sanded some yellow side covers to find one blue flake and one purple flake.

Or they did them all in the same shop, and some drifted over from the one they just did. ??

Did some work on a car a good while back, and looking close at the paint, one side had a very slight overspray of green, and the other side of red. This was near new, had to be ex-factory.....

P.S. Did they have colored flakes back then, when these were factory new ?
Paint history would suggest the flakes should have been silver, and the color back then was all in the topcoat (gelcoat ?).

Wonder who worked in the Norton paint shop, and what they might say about this ?
Don't believe I've ever seen this mentioned anywhere, in the factory stories or pics ??
Did Norton do the paint/fibreglass, or bring them in from outside somewhere ???

DogT · Nov 9, 2012

I have no idea how the gel coat was done, but after painting my FFBlue tank and panels enamel black, and sanding off the black, the color looked sort of silver. I'm sure it had to do with the base coat and as I said not sure how it was produced. However, I've never seen, at least up close, a FFBlue paint like the gel coat. It actually has a lot of black flecks? in it. It's almost like a blue base with black and silver flecks, and rather large flecks. I've posted this before, it's under the gaskets that hold the panels on the rear, so it was covered up for 30 years. What I don't like in the reproduced FFBlue is gold flecks. There was no gold in FFBlue.

Dave
69S

rightshiftrick · Nov 9, 2012

Rohan said:
P.S. Did they have Roadster models in 1969 though ???

IIRC, the Roadster is supposed to have come out in March 1970, sometime around the 135000 range. To make some things confusing my Roadster (Fireflake Red) has 'D 69' stamped on the headstock plate, was registered as a '69, but according to a check of the NOC Factory records was a 1970 machine.

YMMV

RSR

Rohan · Nov 9, 2012

rightshiftrick said:
To make some things confusing my Roadster (Fireflake Red) has 'D 69' stamped on the headstock plate, was registered as a '69, but according to a check of the NOC Factory records was a 1970 machine.

Did you buy it new though - anything could have happened to it in the past 40 years ?

Having said that, as someone has pointed out, the frames were built elsewhere (by Reynolds or Verlicchi) and then shipped to Nortons for assembly into complete bikes. One could have sat in the corner somewhere, who knows....

Rohan · Nov 9, 2012

It would be good to see another example of this type of effect on another sample of Norton - just to verify that these different colored flakes are how Nortons operated, and not just some effect that some previous owner, or shop, has done to it.... ??

DogT said:
Dave
69S

Is this metalflake paintscheme original Norton?

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