Jubilee brochure

This is quite interesting. I have seen page one of this brochure somewhere before- probably online- and I thought that the colour of the bike in the brochure had somehow 'changed in the scanning' as the official colours listed by Norton in 1959 were Red, Blue or Green / Dove grey. The colours in this picture very definitely agrees with that previous picture and seem to be Black/ ???. -definitely not Dove Grey. Maybe it was down to poor colour printing way back in 1959 when black and white photographs were the norm or alternatively the advertising department at Norton simply printed pictures which they thought looked good .

Black/Dove Grey was a De Luxe Navigator colour later in 1961; Or does anyone have more information on available colours?

Yes of course. One should be properly dressed whilst riding a De Luxe motorcycle; a crash hat and a leather jacket were only for the common people on frightful things like Tritons or BSA Bantams.

Happy Christmas to everyone.

You have to hand it to Norton's publicity department for their openness and honesty; they've even incorporated a major oil slick under the bike in their drawing.

The paint scheme was a one month only special called smoked salmon:

coal black and salmon, err.

None of them survived.

Here is our intrepid lightweight pioneer in another place!?. This time on his way to the Earls Court Show. Turning heads and admiring glances!! (also see roadholder cover 355 july2017 ?).

and wearing a cravat ..... as required!

does it have a part number I wonder?

I see they still included the oil slick. Also, have you noticed how, in their drawings of new model cars and motorbikes in those days, the proportions of the vehicles and the people were always changed slightly to make the car/bike seem larger and more imposing? It was a universally-applied trick of the trade apparently.

Is this our intrepid lightweight pioneer on film doing his day job I wonder !?? A Norton Test rider exploring the limits of these lightweight machines. Can anyone put a name to these real life characters ?

youtube :- 100 Years of Avon Tyres

(I don`t know how to put videos as an attachment.)

Enjoy!!

GRAHAM

Here it is. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lGxHjhaHN0c

Is it my eyesight or has the film deteriorated with age ? Do you think the machine is actually a lightweight Norton- possibly a Standard Navigator? I can't remember much about Avon bike tyres but the 'in' tyre in the Mini car rallying world was the Dunlop SP3.

Yes looks like Roadholder forks anyway, I recall using Avon speedmasters and roadrunners I think.

Definitely a standard Navigator , roadholder forks and front brake. Interesting to note the colour , a mildly metallic blue combined with dove grey.(Freeze frame at 6.27) Dove grey seat top with dark grey sides.

In the interests of historical documentation, you are now obliged to create a replica of this extremely rare motorcycle. And ride it wearing a colour-matched cravat. And don't forget the Norton-supplied oil slick

Paul

Previously Ulrich Hoffmann wrote:

The paint scheme was a one month only special called smoked salmon:

coal black and salmon, err.

None of them survived.