O Features archive - March 08
O Making a point
A complicated charmer
It was the fate of many Model 50 Nortons to have their single engines ripped out and a Triumph one put in, Nigel C suggests this was more than a shame as
the 350 tugs at his heartstrings.
I’ve always failed to see the point of 350cc machines. Not that I’ve got anything against them but they always seemed to me to be stuck in a no man’s land between the 250s and the 500s, carrying little more power than the former but all the excess of the latter – the worst of both worlds. Yet, almost from day one, manufacturers included one, if not more ‘junior’ models within their range, they sold reasonably well and most continued through practically to the bitter end.
Of course there were some exceptional junior competition machines but here I’m talking about everyday, ride to work models.
It was en route to the seasonal monthly classic bike night, at The Plough Inn, South Leverton, near Retford, that I came up behind Roy Morris, on his 1959 Model 50 Norton. He was tacking along nicely at about 50mph and seemed to be extremely relaxed and enjoying the ride. I assumed correctly that he was heading to the same venue so nipped past and waited for him to arrive so I could speak to him.
It transpired that though Roy had done a bit of work to the Norton, the bulk had been undertaken prior to
his ownership.
Roy’s father moved the family, from their Liverpool origins, east to Scunthorpe, attracted by the prospects of the steel industry, during the mid-60s. Roy trained as mechanic and worked at numerous local motorcycle outlets before becoming disillusioned with the motorcycle trade and he defected to cars, managing both BMW and Nissan agencies. “I had the first CB750 Honda in this area, but I thought the motorcycle trade was filling up with idiots, so I moved to cars about 1971,” says Roy.
A few years later, one of his workmates turned up one day on a tuned Laverda Jota and offered him a ride on it. Roy remembers: “I was a bit reluctant at first, because it had been a few years since I’d been on a bike, but I must admit it was brilliant! So I went out and bought myself an LC350 Yamaha, which was a bit daft in hindsight.” Eventually, sense prevailed and he bought an Ariel Leader.
It was while trawling the Newark autojumble, in May 2004, that Roy spotted a photograph of the Norton Model 50 on a stall. It was being sold by trader Colin Doughty, from Grantham, so Roy gave him a call, went to see the bike and duly laid down the £3800 asking price. “I reckoned it was plenty but I’d just sold an MGB GT for £4800, so I could afford it and have some change too,” says Roy.
One plus point was that it came complete with a spare 500cc ES2 engine, which had once been fitted. However, the story goes back a little further. Colin purchased the bike from near neighbour Don Brookes, originally from Kent. Don had the engine and a frame from a twin – the twin frames did not have, nor did they need, the flat sided top tube to accommodate the rocker box of the taller singles – and began to build up a Featherbed ES2 but before work had proceeded too far, he found a pukka single frame, complete with its Model 50 bottom end and sundry other engine parts. As the engine number matched the frame, it made sense to transfer all future efforts to this one.
- End of online sample -
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