Click on the pic to blow it up!
Thanks so much to WMA, aka The "Virtual" Motorcycle Gang member Richard Schlinkert. After learning about Peter Galea's dad in the post 2 below this; Richard sent this:
Bob-Peter’s dad is most likely sitting on a 1942 or 43 Norton 16H WD. It is
a 350cc single cylinder side valve (flathead in US speak) with a springer
front suspension and a hardtail rear with springer seat- one hell of a rough
ride on the roads of the day. It was used mostly as a courier bike (note
the briefcase-like panniers) and often had a pillion seat for a rider seen
in one of the attached photos. They also made a slightly beefier 500cc
single version called the Big 4 that was made to haul a sidecar (called a
“slogger), but I think this is a 16H. The headlight shade was indeed to
keep aircraft from spotting it-it was originally a whole “can” as seen in
the photo below, but the sides were usually cut out by the troops so they
could SEE. Nortons earned the nickname “NotRuns” because Lucas electrics
and lights were never very dependable.
There are still lots of these bikes around today-you can buy many of the
parts needed to keep them going. Tell Peter if he’s interested, we can find
him one stateside….
This is exciting.....and so cool! Thanks so much Peter and Richard. You can see Richard and his amazingly restored Norton just a few posts below this one.
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