Most desirable Norton???

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Excluding the later model modern Nortons, If you could have 2 Nortons sitting in your garage, what would they be? One has to be a bone stock factory Norton, the other is a second party speciality race Norton. Base you decision on dependability, collectability,function (thrill to ride!) and just plain Beauty. Money is has no bearing, your rich!
 
THE CLASSIC NORTON, bar none, is probably the Manx Norton.

Most desirable Norton???
 
'Probably"? Given the R-word,[ real 1%ers?] was used, what is the highest price fetched by sale, Norton wise ? [& what kind of cylinder head does it have?`...[ -sorry could not help it...] Or most spent?
Personally, - a carefully built VR 880 'S' replica in orange metalflake & a Quantel racer would do me..
 
The other classic Norton of all time is probably the sidevalve 16H Norton of WW2 fame.
100,000+ produced for military use around the world, and spares are still turning up.
Legends never die, they just have another rebuild and keep chuntering along....

Most desirable Norton???
 
Gawd...elp ..us... I might`ve almost about bloody well ...chuntered... - just from looking at that horiffic ruin...let alone the prospect of seeing to it...
 
Oh no , you`re not going to the....single...side..are you , M.A. ?... L.O.L.
 
I'd like any of the Manxes, but I think the one I'd like most would be one of the DOHC 600s that Eric Oliver won the early FIM championships with.
Most desirable Norton???


That's Jenks in the Watsonian - Denis Jenkinson, who wrote for MotorSport for many years, and co-winner of first World Championship.
They would only use the DOHC (double-knocker, as Jenks called it) motor when they felt they needed the higher speed. They only had the one, and needed it to last the season. Norton built a 596cc version of the Manx for sidecar use, as the limit was 600cc in that class. Jenks campaigned a Model 40 that year, and Oliver had a 30 with a spare 350 engine. He would often run 3 races a weekend - 350 class, 500 class (same bike, motor swap), and sidecar. Jenks would run 350 class, help with the motor changeout for Oliver for the 500 race, and ride passenger in sidecar. Jenks later rode as navigator with Moss in a 300SLR in the '55 MM, and wrote about it.

Eric Oliver entered a production 600cc Dominator in the 1958 TT, with a housewife as the sidecar passenger, to prove that Dommies could handle sidecar use. He finished 10th, ahead of several purpose-built factory entries.
 
Excluding the later model modern Nortons, If you could have 2 Nortons sitting in your garage, what would they be? One has to be a bone stock factory Norton, the other is a second party speciality race Norton. Base you decision on dependability, collectability,function (thrill to ride!) and just plain Beauty. Money is has no bearing, your rich!
 
It seems like no matter what anyone has in the garage they always want something different.

I have a nice lot of featherbed roadsters and racers, but I think it would be fun to run errands on a flat-tank Norton from the teens or twenties.

I don't want a flat-tanker bad enough to pursue one though. I will just run out whatever years I have left on a featherbed SS roadster unless something falls into my lap very cheaply.

There is a little Gilera street bike in the barn we used to ride through the woods when we were kids, something with a family or personal history is as desirable to me as anything exotic or expensive.
 
As I posted over in non-Commandos, I think I'd like the 596cc Manx, like Eric Oliver won 4 FIM sidecar championships with - even down to the choice of engines - Single or Double overhead cam.
 
I guess I'm lucky, I want what I've got and I've got what I want. After owning six Commandos over 30 years I now have 2 x Mk 3s, one pretty stock except for alloy rims (will have big brakes soon) and a modded for touring Interstate with luggage rack , 34 mikuni and many other mods, my favourite being an extra side stand on the timing side (as my missus can't get on the bike from the left due to injury) I can see people looking at the bike leaning over to the right and wondering what the hell's going on there . I really don't want one of those absolutely beautiful custom jobs I've seen, coz from what I see, they don't spend much time doing what they were made for.
sam
 
Im new to this Norton world. But I am hooked. One thing I'm alittle confused is when people refer to MK . What is the breakdown in years that make differant MK's?
 
kempoyner said:
Excluding the later model modern Nortons, If you could have 2 Nortons sitting in your garage, what would they be? One has to be a bone stock factory Norton, the other is a second party speciality race Norton. Base you decision on dependability, collectability,function (thrill to ride!) and just plain Beauty. Money is has no bearing, your rich!

Money is no problem. Then this question makes no sense- I would have [at least] one of each and a showroom garage to keep them in with a few fellows to stop by and polish the alloy . Jim
 
Open sesame... Ok..sure ... now we're just getting carried away...Santa, hey, you got your ears on, come back..
 
J.A.W. said:
Open sesame... Ok..sure ... now we're just getting carried away...Santa, hey, you got your ears on, come back..

Since you don't appear to own a Norton, or want to own a Norton, what are you doing here posting cr*p all the time ??

Mr Moderator.....
 
kempoyner said:
Im new to this Norton world. But I am hooked. One thing I'm a little confused is when people refer to MK . What is the breakdown in years that make differant MK's?

The English have a history of calling new developments in car, bike and airplane models Mark-something, to signify there has been a change the machine.

In particular, I'm thinking of the Supermarine Spitfire in WWII. Each improvement or change was signified by a new Mark. In total, the Spitfire had 24 Marks, many with sub-variants. The most numerous were the MkVs and MkIXs. Mark IXs also had -a and -b submodels. Though these variations differed in engine, canopy, wing shape, armament or other equipment change, they were all Spitfires.

Usually, the MkI isn't called a MkI until there's a MkII. Marks don't necessarily follow model years, but signify some change that may have come during the year.

Actually, when the Commando was being developed, it was the Atlas Mark 3, the Atlas MkII being the change to coil ignition and Amal concentrics. Early Commando serial numbers were stamped 20M3xxxxxx, 20 being the Atlas model designation.
 
Rohan, being a bit over-sensitive [not to mention... presumptuous... -oops - I just did..] aren`t you? No one likes a squealer...or dobber..& coz I laughed at your choice?
This thread is only a bit of whimsy...aint it...so maybe you cool it, a bit.. eh, joker.
Does anyone know which Nortons Jay Leno has in his shed?
 
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