Styling panels and tank paint

I need some styling panels too, the club had some but is out of stock I think?

They are hard to find for two main reasons.

1) They were made of monkey metal which went all pimply and so were thrown away.

2)Back in the Seventies/Eighties when Lightweights were still being used the fashion then was Commando style - the old Atlas was now out of fashion.

The Club at one time had new badges manufactured in alloy which polished up lovely but that was probably twenty years ago in itself.

Badges still appear at auto jumbles but are usually in poor condition and beyond re-chroming which is expensive at the best of times.

The Lightweight badge is smaller than the similar styled badge on the big twins.

Patrick

Hello Andrew,

Andy is probably your best man to say what is the correct paint line. I have five tanks and every one is different but none of them are original paint. My best guess is that at the front of the tank the line matches the point of the badge and at the rear the line is maybe a quarter inch above the point of the badge.

Original tanks were also certainly painted in cellulose which can give a superb finish (better than 2K if done really well -RR standard) but doesn't wear anything like as good as 2K.

Strange thing is that when taping the tank line it doesn't follow the natural line that an experienced painter would expect. Hard to explain that- you somehow spend ages re-adjusting the tape rather than doing it in one flowing motion.

But it doesn't really matter - do what you prefer. It's your bike.

Patrick

Andrew I understood! Perhaps we need to prod the spares team to get some more made?

Norton did use some strange descriptions in their Spare Parts List. They list the tank badges as Petrol Tank Styling Strip -hence my assumption!

It is a good idea to raise the matter with NOC Spares but it seems near impossible to get a reply from Neil. Originally ages ago I was told that he was meeting "a man" at Bristol show to consider re-manufacture of De Luxe seats but I have heard nothing since. Best man to speak to is Ian Somerville -phone number in Roadholder-but I think any new purchase requires Neil's OK.

The club did have the correct styling panels for the Standard a while back so I expect they do have a pattern to work from. I think they were pretty expensive though.

Patrick.

That's the best attitude - just enjoy what you are doing. It is too easy when everything is available new off the shelf. I am not a fan of Heritage bodyshells even if they are made on the original jigs (a la MGB)- much prefer the scruffy original where panels almost fitted.

I have loads of cuttings from magazines showing Jubilees and Navigators including the Motor Cycle advert (20th October 1960) introducing the new Standard Jubilee. In every single picture the rear end of the badge is not clear. In fact there is even a strong possibility that the original 1959/60 badge was actually fractionally longer than the later 1963 models and actually turned the corner of the tank. I have good pictures of the 1963 models where the badge is very definitely the usual model but all by that time were the single colour tank; two tone paintwork was now out- it was so 1950s!- now it's the swinging sixties. 650SS wit silver tanks so the Electra copied this.

Cuttings are very unreliable - I have an original magazine cutting showing the 'new 1959 Norton Jubilee 250' The badge on the tank is very distinct and is very clearly an entirely different Norton badge which I have never seen anywhere else!. A prototype possibly. But the front page of the November 1958 Motor Cycle very definitely shows the normal badge.

Patrick

There is some nice pics in the Classic Motorcycle magazine November 2009 showing that the point of the badge lines up with the paint line. The MotorCycle mag November 1958, British Bike mag August 1959 and the MotorCycling mag November 1958 also show the same badge line. The rear of the badge does look like it could be about a couple of millimeters lower than the paint line. Ive also painted my tank with the point lining up with the paint line.

These nice bikes (in the 2009 mag) belong to Terry Brock and Malcom Wright, long time devotee of the Norton lightweights, they probally still own them

John.

What size screws are used to fix the Jubilee tank badges.

John.

I have had the following from

Ian Somerville.

Spares & Merchandise Officer, Norton Owners Club.

We are waiting for another batch of the styling panels to be made, they should be in stock soon.

Regards

Tony