It is official, my dream in coming true. I now own a Norton 16h. I just paid Dutch Lion Motorbikes and in a few weeks they will ship it to me in the US.
I would like to know as much as possible about this bike's history. I joined the Norton Owners Club last night. Unfortunately the records request system appears to be only for pre-and-post war bikes.
I requested a 'basic search', no word yet. Should I do a factory records search even though it seems to not cover war bikes?
If you can help me gather any information on this bike's original configuration and service I would be very (very) grateful.
I am told it is a 1942 Norton 16h. Some googling has revealed a previous owner was Rob de bas in Holland, however on the wdNorton webpage it lists it as a 1940.
My copy of "British forces Motorcycles" has no information on frames numbers between 83000 and 90000. The information for the engine in the book only says 01/02/40CD (Contract Date).My father served in WWII and was part of the Normandy invasion. He rode an Indian war bike during the war, so I have a keen interest in knowing if this bike has any war history.Frame number W84817Engine number W17426
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Well done on getting yours…
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The Orchard & Madden b…
The Orchard & Madden book is a fantastic piece of research but fortunately some more snippets of information have become available since it was first published in 1995.
The motorcycle numbered W84817 was delivered under contract S2602. Reference to 'O&M' shows 5000 machines with WD Serial numbers C5266965 - C5271964. Ordnance records show that these were in fact W83765 - W88764 (you'll notice that the last two digits match the serial numbers).
W84817 would have displayed the number C5268017 on the fuel tank.
This contract was actually noted for delivery 'Jan 1944 at 1600/month' which would put delivery of yours to RAOC Chilwell somewhere around January or February of 1944 with onward delivery to a unit at some point after this.
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Hi Timothy Welcome to the…
Hi Timothy
Welcome to the NOC.
I suggest you look in www.wdnorton.nl which is all about WD Nortons ie. the 16H and the Big 4 and you will find all relevant details and pictures of many machines; some like yours.
Best regards
Derek Ambler
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Well done on getting yourself a WD16H, they're great fun
Richard Payne might be able to help you with some more precise dates but I doubt anyone can tell you the history of the bike as no records were kept where each bike went.
A good source of knowledge is the WD motorcycle forum.