Tail Light Housing

I have a 1969 Commando S. It is BRG in color and the tail light housing is black. I have noticed some S models the housing is silver. In Roy Bacon's book the pictures show S models with what appear to be both.
Anybody have an answer what color is corrent for a S Model? Or is is dependant on the tank and side cover color or some other factor. The unit is taken appart and in primer and I need to know what colr to paint it.

boz said:

In Roy Bacon's book

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I am guessing that the book in question is Roy Bacon's "Norton Twins" title?

Roy Bacon is a prolific author of motorcycle books, and there are at least five of his Norton books (to my knowledge) that deal with the Commando models to some degree.

I've checked all the period S model photos in every Norton book I have, and every 69-70 S model except for that one in "Norton Twins" seems to have a silver tail lamp housing, and so do other models, the black type would appear to have been used from the 1971 model year, production of the S model was apparently discontinued in mid-1970, so it's highly probable that it should actually be silver?
However...as with anything "Norton" it can be risky to say "They never made any like that" As somebody invariably says "YES THEY DID...I had one from new!!"... so the final decision whether to go for black or silver may be yours?

I have a 1969 Commando S. It is BRG in color and the tail light housing is black.

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Of course if you are using Bacon's book as a guide you know that a '69 S was not offered in BRG either :roll:

As Les mentioned nothing is certain. I know of a '69 S that was purchased new in red metalflake with a black taillight. Dealer swap??
The silver metalflake taillight fairing did seem to be on the majority of '69 S though.

Ron L said:

Of course if you are using Bacon's book as a guide you know that a '69 S was not offered in BRG either

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I think this is a classic case of "never say never" - as Steve Wilson in his book "Norton Motorcycles from 1950 to 1986" does specifically mention "British racing green" as one of the colour options for the 1969 S model!

Thanks for all the response.
And yes we are talking about Bacon's post war Norton twins book.
I will check tonight when I get home on the color thing. Again this could be a case of never say never. The VIN number would indicate that the bike is a 69, again according to the same book, but the title that came with it says it is a 1970. Perhaps it did not sell until the next year or who knows.
Thanks again.

I think this is a classic case of "never say never"

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My point exactly!