72 Norton that Barry Weiss has added his personal touch to

 

John Stein stored away his 5 favorite motorcycles in a borrowed garage in Pacific Palisades until he retired and could build his ultimate shop with a lift, benches, and tools. He insured them with Hagerty (I'm a customer of theirs too) and wrote about going to the fire zone to see what was left, take photos, and get a check cut for the cycles utterly destroyed

A 1950 Norton International Model 30, 

a 1987 Harris Magnum 2 chassis housing a fuel-injected Kawasaki GPz1100 engine. 

a 1959 Matchless G50 grand prix bike

a 1968 Bultaco Metralla Mk 2 sport bike

and a 1972 Bultaco Astro 250 flat-tracker.

https://www.hagerty.com/media/motorcycles/classic-motorcycles-lost-how-the-palisades-fire-consumed-a-dream

undoubtedly a unique display

 
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10223497779892842&set=a.1617402035143

There were more than 100 motorcycles aboard the SS Thistlegorm. BSA produced the famous motorcycles found on the wreck, which are located in Hold #1. The Norton 16H’s are in the lower level of Hold #2 and many are loaded onto Fordson War Office Transport (WOT) trucks.

Norton was the primary motorcycle supplier to the British Military during WWII, almost 100,000 of the Norton 16H Model were built for service. Due to the relatively high ground clearance and solid reliability the Norton, it was favored for despatch work, it was also used for training, reconnaissance, convoy control and escort duties.

The Norton 16H simply means “Home”, the Nortons that were built for service overseas with the Australian, New Zealand, Indian and the Canadian Armies were denoted with a “C” for “colonies”.

The SS Thistlegorm was part of a convoy of 16 ships heading to Alexandria resupplying the British 8th Army at Tobruk. The convoy was halted at Sha’ab Ali (Safe Anchorage F) because a tanker had run into a German mine at the entrance to the Suez canal, and the convoy had to wait until the wreckage was cleared. The Thistlegorm was sunk during a surprise attack by a pair of Heinkel He-111 bombers dispatched from Crete. The German bombers were originally ordered to search for, and sink, the RMS Queen Mary.

Most of the cargo remained on board following a long period of disinterest. Until Dr. Adel Taher, the founder of Sharm’s Hyperbaric Medical Centre, ‘rediscovered’ the wreck in the early 1990s with three friends and dived it in secret for a few years.

Today the ship is one of the most famous wreck dives in the world, a virtual museum showcasing motorcycles, jeeps, weaponry, locomotives, and more.

Then growth of sport diving took off in the Red Sea and Sharm El Sheikh became a popular scuba diving destination. The depth of the wreck is around 100 feet and makes it ideal for diving without the need for specialized equipment and training, but dive operators didn’t practice social distancing and word spread as the location became the most popular scuba diving and tourist destination in Egypt and the Red Sea. Now there are severe issues with preserving artifacts and the history of the ship wreck.

https://nwhog.wordpress.com/2020/03/29/1940-era-norton-and-bsa-motorcycles-79-years-later/

https://anekrasov.com/my-photos/dive/wrecks/motorcycle-norton-16h-shipwreck-ss-thistlegorm-british-armed-merchant-navy-0

photo realistic motor drawn with a pencil

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10222721702171384&set=a.1617402035143

eye candy (thank you James!)

In 1950, Norton introduced the now-legendary Featherbed frame, which quickly earned a reputation as the best handling chassis money could buy. 

Before long, builders had began to create specials that combined the best engine with the best frame, resulting in machines like the Triton (Triumph-Norton), Norbsa (Norton-BSA), and Tribsa (Triumph-BSA). 

In general, a Triton is a combination of a hearty Triumph twin engine and a sweet-steering Norton featherbed frame

One of the rarest, most legendary of such fusions was the Norvin, which involved shoehorning a mighty 998cc Vincent V-twin engine in a Norton frame.

 The originator of the combination was no less notable: “It’s widely acknowledged that the first Norvin was the brainchild of the legend that is John Surtees.” —Timeless 2 Wheels

https://www.bikebound.com/2022/04/24/norvin/

Norton Motorcycles has slumped into administration, marking the latest crisis for the 122-year-old brand.

they are being pursued this month by HMRC for £300,000 in unpaid taxes.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/jan/29/norton-motorcycles-goes-into-administration

the 1962 Norton Manx, last of the line of the best-known racing motorcycle of all time (thanks Rick!)

Designed in 1939, resuming production in '46, and with only a couple upgrades before ceasing production with the 1962, as the AMC company which owned Norton bailed out of racing to focus on it's ailing sales, and Lucas who'd been supplying the magnetos switched to points and coils in '63.

The cycle parts remained essentially unchanged from 1951 on, apart from the adoption of a double-sided, twin-leading-shoe front brake for 1962.

However the single most impressive part is the front brake of the '62. It gained 75% more brake surface in 62, from the 61 front brake, from the adoption of a double-sided, twin-leading-shoe front brake milled from billet magnesium.

Reproductions of that 62 front brake from Works Racing go for  £2750 plus taxes and shipping.

https://www.worksracing.co.uk/news_4ls_front_brake.php
https://www.classic-british-motorcycles.com/1962-norton-manx.html
https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21136/lot/376/

Still in the case, 1975 Nortons, and a 1985 Matchless were found 5 years ago

The horde of Nortons came to light recently following the death of the owner of Motoshop Podevyn in Aalst, Belgium. Incredibly, the bikes are just a small part of an even larger collection.

In addition to the 11 Nortons there’s was also also an ex-Peter Williams Norton-powered space frame racer, a Rotax-powered 1989 Matchless G80 still in its crate, numerous standard and customized Nortons, a Triumph T160, Bonnevilles, piles and piles of wheels and seats, and racks of used and new-old-stock gas tanks.

Found on http://www.motorcycleclassics.com/black-side-down-new-nortons-found-in-belgium.aspx

Great stuff from Volksrat.tumblr.com

 this Pontiac Safari wagon was lost to soft sands and incoming tide in 1973, but was washed clear recently by winter storm seas... that is so damn cool. Anyone having photos like this, email them to me so I can share them! jbohjkl@yahoo.com

 1923 Norton chopper, well, let me say that correctly, a chopper in 1923 that was made into a chopper

The above F-100 XL truck has been found, and is intact minus the 427 cammer... and a website shows a couple hundred photos of it http://f-100xl.info/ 

found on http://volksrat.tumblr.com/ who found lots of thes cool images on http://onthelosthighway.tumblr.com/ and http://5window.tumblr.com/ and other cool sites

Photography from Cyclone magazine, really good musclecar, race car, and motorcycle photography, here's a sample

now that was really damn good! Glad you enjoyed it, see a lot more at http://cyclonemotorgallery.blogspot.com/