Original factory spec/Photos

... as almost all the bikes you see will have been changed over the years. Roy Bacon's book does have pics of some original machines. Don't rely on catalogue pics as they're rarely accurate.

It may also be worth digging out old copies of the Blue and Green 'Uns but photo quality in them was dreadful.

A page from the above:

There is a book "Norton from 1946" by Cyril Ayton which includes roadtests of ES2s from 1947 and 1949 but as Ian says the picture quality wasn't  good.

.. I have that book and it's good, but the picture quality is even worse than the opriginals as they'sve just been scanned (and probably by old-school methods eg a process camera).

Unfortunately, Roy Bacon never produced a 'Nortons Singles Restoration' book as the twins version has lots of clear detailed 'factory' and show type images.

The original photographs used in the weeklies would have been of a high quality....Morton's Archive is probably the best bet if you're intending to research thoroughly. However, access and copies are expensive.

I don't know if you can describe this a restoration book but it does have good photos, including '47 ES2 & '48 16H. It covers all the singles OHC/OHV/SV. Published by Osprey, ISBN 0-85045-485-9 There is another version covering OHV & SV models only but the picture quality is not as good. Selectabook ISBN 1-85648-312-6

... are the names given to the weekly magazines from the period - The Motorc Cycle had a blue cover, Motorcycling green.