Norton Motorcycle, Model Es2 500 Cc, Circa 1948

Norton Motorcycle, Model ES2 500 CC, circa 1948
Incomplete documentation; it has road licenses from 1958 and 1980.
Norton, or Norton Motorcycles, is a British motorcycle brand founded in 1898 that ceased production in the 1990s and resumed trading in 2008. The company was acquired in 1952 by Associated Motor Cycles, before becoming part of the Norton-Villiers group in 1966, and then in 1972 being integrated into the Norton-Villiers-Triumph group, following the liquidation of BSA (former owner of Triumph). Designed by Walter Moore, the Norton CS1 engine appeared in 1927, based largely on the ES2 pushrod engine and using many parts from it. Moore was recruited by NSU in 1930, after which Arthur Carroll designed an all-new overhead camshaft engine that was to become the basis for all subsequent Norton overhead camshaft and double overhead camshaft engines. (Moore's move to NSU prompted his old team to joke that NSU stood for "Norton Spares Used.") The Norton racing legend began in the 1930s. Of the nine Isle of Man Senior TTs (500cc) contested between 1931 and 1939, Norton won seven. After World War II, Norton returned to civilian motorcycle production and gradually expanded its range. In 1949, the Model 7 twin, known as the Norton Dominator, a 500cc pushrod twin-cylinder machine designed by Bert Hopwood, was a major addition to the range. Its chassis is derived from the ES2 single-cylinder, with telescopic suspension at the front and piston suspension at the rear, and an improved version of the gearbox known as the "lay-down" gearbox. Sleek mudguards and fuel tanks complete the more modern styling of Norton's new top-of-the-range twin-cylinder model. -
Dimensions: 200x84x114 cm