Mk1 & Mk2a

My bike is a Mk.1, on a late '73 (M) plate. I have just seen 2 Commandos for sale, Mk2A's, on early '73 (L) plates.
What gives? Am I nuts?

Flo said:

My bike is a Mk.1, on a late '73 (M) plate. I have just seen 2 Commandos for sale, Mk2A's, on early '73 (L) plates.
What gives? Am I nuts?

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As far as I'm aware, any genuine 850 Mk1A, Mk2 or 2A would have been manufactured too late to be originally issued with an 'L' registration (Aug. '72-July '73).

Perhaps they are both 'imports' which have been issued with 'age-related' registrations (sometimes the area code within the registration can be a clue to that)?

Perhaps they're not genuine Mk2A's?

But without knowing more detailed information, who knows?

One of my bikes is Apr 73 build, a Mk1 850 originally L reg.
Some people don't know the difference and think all 850's pre electric start are 2a's, at the end of the day its a Commando, doesn't matter, they are all good! :lol:

Gino Rondelli said:

One of my bikes is Apr 73 build, a Mk1 850 originally L reg.
Some people don't know the difference and think all 850's pre electric start are 2a's, at the end of the day its a Commando, doesn't matter, they are all good! :lol:

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Oh; come, come Mr. Rondelli, We've both cast an eye over the odd old dog in the past and some of them were definitely Commandos ! They all look better after a few beers though .

I seem to recall a photo in one of the Brit mags with a 750 and an 850, both roadsters from a long ago memory and one had NOR 850L for a plate and the 750 had NOR 750L. Dave Croxford was in the photo and when asked, he answered "because they go like 'ell !"

I do remember snippets like that from time to time. Therefore I would imagine that, being a period photo in a period magazine that at least ONE 850 had an "L" reg.
I'm not a Brit but I presume that this is the "L" that you speak of.

Weren't those two Commandos given to Williams and Croxford at the end of the 1973 season ? It is quite likely that NVT had pre-registered the numbers.

Fullauto said:

I do remember snippets like that from time to time. Therefore I would imagine that, being a period photo in a period magazine that at least ONE 850 had an "L" reg.

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There's certainly no argument over an 850 Mk1 having an 'L' registration, and I'm sorry if I may have given you that impression-however I didn't mention the Mk1, only Mk1A and Mk2/2A, as those models should not have been manufactured until after the end of July '73 when the letter changed from 'L' to 'M' on the 1st day of August 1973 for '1974 year' vehicle registrations, and "NOR 850L" certainly seems to be an 850 Mk1.

79x100 said:

Weren't those two Commandos given to Williams and Croxford at the end of the 1973 season ? It is quite likely that NVT had pre-registered the numbers.

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Yes, apparently the bikes were given to Williams and Croxford for winning the Formula 750 that year.
The "OR" part of NOR is a Portsmouth area registration, 'NOR 750L' and 'NOR 850L' numbers appear to have been genuine, and not just made up for promotional purposes as 'NOR 750L' is still an active DVLA registration and still belongs to a "1972(?) Black Norton 745cc" registered on 18 May 1973, although not currently in use-as it's on SORN. There's no DVLA record for 'NOR 850L' unfortunately, and the number hasn't been re-issued to another vehicle.

The vehicle details for NOR 750L are:

Date of Liability 01 07 2011
Date of First Registration 18 05 1973
Year of Manufacture 1972
Cylinder Capacity (cc) 745CC
CO2 Emissions Not Available
Fuel Type Petrol
Export Marker Not Applicable
Vehicle Status SORN Not Due
Vehicle Colour BLACK

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That's strange, I just re-checked 'NOR 850L' on the DVLA database, and this time I got a result!

The vehicle details for NOR 850L are:

Date of Liability 01 10 1982
Date of First Registration 18 05 1973
Year of Manufacture Not Available
Cylinder Capacity (cc) 828CC
CO2 Emissions Not Available
Fuel Type Petrol
Export Marker Not Applicable
Vehicle Status Unlicensed
Vehicle Colour BLACK

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If NOR 850L still exists, then it has not been 'on the road' since 1982.