Norton Mercury

A local just purchased a 1968 purchased from the original owner. The owner purchased the Mercury in southern California and brought the bike with him when he immigrated in Canada many years ago. There are some very odd things about this bike.
1) It has a small headstock ID tag , riveted and has on its:
DEC/68
Model: 650ss
Vin # SS 129489
2) Frame # 18 and below 129489
3) Engine # SS129489
The bike has all the paint work of a Mercury, a single Amal concentric ( it is 68) . Has both a tach and speedo. Painted blue as is the primary , chain guard, petrol tank, battery box and oil tank. It does have a small hump seat as the 68 Atlas. Fenders are not heavily valences and are similar to the SS which was discontinued in 1967.
What doe the owner have here ? Was a head tag ID plate required in the US but not Canada.
PS: The owner of this bike also has a very authentic 1971 Norton Production racer that was recently written up in Motorcycle Classics, article by Robert Smith

Robin, I am far from an expert on the subject, however from the reading I have done about the Mercury model, all Mercuries had their engine crankcase stamped 18SS, same as the 650SS. I have also read that other than the cosmetic differences, all cost savers, the Mercury was identical to the 650 SS internally. Add twin carbs to the Mercury, chrome the primary cover, add a tach and appropriate paint and you now have a 650SS.
So it seems Norton did not even bother to give the Mercuries their own engine designation, perhaps that is why the tag reads 650SS.

Glen

front and rear guards [fenders] were similar to early commando, not valanced like a 650SS.
Al

I've read that the last of the 650SS model could be ordered with optional "Sport" chrome fenders that were same as the early Commando. Now that was just some info from the UK Norton Club, I have no way to verify it.
Mine came to me fitted with these fenders. I actually prefer the look of it to the valenced fenders, it makes the bike look a bit lighter.

rmullett said:

PS: The owner of this bike also has a very authentic 1971 Norton Production racer that was recently written up in Motorcycle Classics, article by Robert Smith

Click to expand...

Don't take that as gospel ? - a number of folks commented on that 'PR' on a thread here just recently,
and pointed out quite a lot of variations from how it should have looked.
But we diverge...

What does this tag look like.
You can buy those Euro style tags, to fit to anything.
It sounds like one of those ?

rmullett said:

A local just purchased a 1968 purchased from the original owner. The owner purchased the Mercury in southern California and brought the bike with him when he immigrated in Canada many years ago. There are some very odd things about this bike.
1) It has a small headstock ID tag , riveted and has on its:
DEC/68
Model: 650ss
Vin # SS 129489
2) Frame # 18 and below 129489
3) Engine # SS129489
The bike has all the paint work of a Mercury, a single Amal concentric ( it is 68) . Has both a tach and speedo. Painted blue as is the primary , chain guard, petrol tank, battery box and oil tank. It does have a small hump seat as the 68 Atlas. Fenders are not heavily valences and are similar to the SS which was discontinued in 1967.
What doe the owner have here ? Was a head tag ID plate required in the US but not Canada.

Click to expand...

That bike is a Mercury. They were built from mid-October through December 1968, in a single run of around 800 bikes. Mercury numbers run from 129146 to 1299xx. Engine should be stamped 18SS/129489. Transmission should also be stamped with the matching serial number. Mercuries should all be titled as 1969 models, but they're actually titled as '68, '69, or '70, depending on the opinion of the titling authority (date built or date sold).

My Ranger, P11/1289xx, was shipped from the factory on October 15, 1968. All Ranger 750s should be titled as '69 models, but mine is titled as a 1968.
My G15CS, G15CS/1235xx is a 1967 production bike, but is titled as a 1968. One is titled by production date, one is titled by date sold.

Norton had run around 2500 1968 Commandos (20M3/126124 to 20M3/128644), then ran the batch of Rangers (496) and the batch of Mercuries (~800) before starting up 1969 Commando production.

Rumor has it that Norton-Villiers wanted to build and sell these other bikes to use up excess stock before closing down Plumstead and moving Commando production to Wolverhampton and Andover.

Without seeing what the tag looks like, it's hard to say. But I know that California DMV will rivet on ID tags. Often referred to as "blue tag bikes". Normally this is done for an old bike without a title, or one where the motor number doesn't match the frame. I don't think they do this any longer, but I've seen several old Nortons in California with this same tag. In fact, a buddy of mine currently owns a "blue tag" 650ss with a non-matching frame and motor number.
I believe that California use to allow this, and they would issue the tag with an ID number that matched what the bikes was. They required a DMV / State Police inspection prior to issuing a tag.

I'm not an expert on this, so don't take it for gospel, I'm going based on what I've seen and the bike that my friends owns.