1968 Norton Commando paint colour

I am getting some advice that the colour of my Commando is very rare. I've scoured the internet looking for photos of a silver Commando without luck. Does anyone know if this is really a rare colour? If so, I may just give it a good polish or repaint it the same colour. If it's nothing special I may change to a different colour. I bought the bike from the original owner and he assured me he never had it painted. It is so original that it still has the original frame as he never took the bike in for the recall to have it replaced. (since I plan to ride the bike I am replacing the frame with a used one I found that is modded. See my other post '1968 Commando frame')

darmah said:

I am getting some advice that the colour of my Commando is very rare. I've scoured the internet looking for photos of a silver Commando without luck. Does anyone know if this is really a rare colour?

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Yes I believe silver ones are quite rare.

There always seemed to be a lot of controversy on the 1968 paint colors. If I remember correctly Roy Bacon's book said that they were all green, but there is at least one picture of a silver one in Mick Duckworth's Norton Commando book. Did you check to see if it's paint on the tank and tail or is it the gelcoat that is silver?

Boy, that's quite a find. Does the gel-coat have any speckle to it like the later tail lamp farings? I've never seen a silver one, but heard of them. We need more pictures, anything else you can give us. Serial number and manufacture date would be real nice too. It looks in better shape than the '69 I had kept for 38 years in bad places. That front mudguard is almost good if you polish it with some penetrating oil and steel wool. I hope you keep it in near original shape.

Dave
69S

By late 68 you could get what Bacon's book lists as the 69 colours: Grenadier Red, British Racing Green, Fireflake Silver and Burgundy Red & SIiver. It's also possible that someone just painted it silver to match the side covers so to Maximini's point you just want to verify that it's a silver gelcoat. What's are the first 3 or 4 digits of your frame number out of curiousity? that would tell you how early in the production it was built.

I saw a silver '68 two summers ago at a british car show in Vermont. It was a fine metallic that was similar to the 70 taillight fairing, but I really don't remember the shade of silver that well. I don't recall the entire ID number but I know it started with 1264, which is a pretty early machine. The owner said that he was the second owner and had purchased the bike in the UK when he was working over there. I commented on the color and he said that he had the original customer's copy of the purchase agreement and that the bike color was listed as silver. I just figured at the time that maybe the UK had different color options.

It really wouldn't be surprising at all if the some of earliest commando's were silver, afterall the earls court bike was so clearly they had the colour available. My only point was that all the 69 colours were technically available in '68. Now if someone can find an original bike in purple with yellow stipes I'll be impressed :mrgreen:

As an aside, (not calling anything into question in this thread)...I do recall a few years ago seeing a bike listed on ebay as "the first production commando" in silver and an orange seat...with a 127XXX serial. But, thats ebay for ya.

You may well be right 68&below.

Serial number is 127413 so it's about the 1200th made or so from what I can gather. It is not paint on the tank or tailpiece but gelcoat. And again, I bought it from the original owner who purchased it in 1968 from a dealer in Langley, British Columbia, Canada (where he still lives). He assures me that it was never repainted and is just the way he bought it. Certainly no metal flake in the finish anywhere, just silver. I think I will refinish it to match the current/original colour.

I have another post up regarding the frame and someone posted a photo of a Commando with a two tone tank (silver/red) with a red tailpiece that wowed me and got me thinking to do the same. But I've changed my mind and plan to keep it as original as possible (though I'll probably put electronic ignition in it).
Here are photos of the original pieces. The tank and tailpiece have the badges removed;

I am missing that top plate from my bike. What is the part number and the location on the bike? Is it obtainable?


Frame number 123671; according to N.J. Hinton @ the Norton Owners Club the bike was dismantled and used for experimental work with a disposal date of September 19th 1968.

Black Cat, you're looking for part number 06.0843. Norvil in the UK lists it in their catalog. Interesting bike, Is it the original engine or is the just the frame number 123671?

Darmah, keep in mind that Norton intermixed their serial numbers between models so your bike would be around the 1200th BIKE built from the first commando, but not necessarily the 1200th commando.

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I am curious as to how many Commandos were built before the 126125 number that is usually cited as the first production machine.

68&below said:

Black Cat, you're looking for part number 06.0843. Norvil in the UK lists it in their catalog. Interesting bike, Is it the original engine or is the just the frame number 123671?

Darmah, keep in mind that Norton intermixed their serial numbers between models so your bike would be around the 1200th BIKE built from the first commando, but not necessarily the 1200th commando.

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No it is not the original engine number which is 126765. Mr. Hinton speculated that the original engine was dismantled and rebuilt at a lated date, though that is of course not clear from the records. He did find a note that it was dismantled on November 11, 1968. I think that from the original(?) entry date of Sept.19th,1968 to that November they destroyed the engine, but who knows for sure. I need to write them and find out if they have an entry for 126765.

Thanks for the part number, but where does it go? Edit: Hmmm.....extension chain guard. Does it bolt to and below the chain guard?

PS. Mr.Hinton indicated that Commando #123667 was "possibly experimental and was sold to Byron Black in the USA, date 14.8.69"

That's interesting, it's almost kind of surprising that the factory would let the frame out after the recall but if sold as experimental it makes sense. A really a cool peice of history to have.

The chainguard extension bolts to the bottom of the chainguard upper using the same mount bolts. If you look at the pic you can see how the holes line up. It can be a pain to hold everything in place (spacers etc) and get the bolts through on a fully assembled bike...I recall with mine almost getting frustrated enough to throw the extension in a box and forget it! Maybe a previous owner felt the same way. :lol:

Wow! That red & silver bike is gorgeous!

Mick Duckworth, in his book "Norton Commando," says of the Earl's Court show bike (the 1st Commando), "Little did the public know that it was a non-runner.... Nor would they have guessed that its all-over flat silver paint finish had been applied with car touch-up aerosols by NV experimental staff." p.26 Mick adds that for production, "The all-silver engine was also rejected, production bikes having their iron cylinders finished in traditional black. Mouldings were not painted but were self-coloured by pigment in the gel-coat resin. The standard overall livery was now Forest Green (often described as British Racing Green) for the fuel tank and seat tail with silver side panels and a black seat cover, but buyers could still opt for silver bodywork and the orange seat, as seen at the show." p. 41 I have a friend with a '68 which is Guardsman Red & the color is in the gel-coat. So, apparently silver, green & red were available in '68.

I've never seen an original silver bike, but in the photos I've seen in Duckworth's book & other places, it looks to be a smooth (not metallic or metal flake), almost semi-gloss finish. The first Commando I ever saw was in '69 at a dealership in Aston, PA. It was a customer's bike. The badge indents were filled & it was painted in Cadillac silver mist (flake) with hand painted 'Norton' script in bright electric blue. Awesome looking bike, but certainly not the thing to do to an original silver bike at this point.

Thanks for that information on the chain guard. I am surprised the PO didn't have that piece because he had the tank and tail section all wrapped up on a shelf because he never liked the look of the Fastback, which is great for me because the paint is original and almost showroom quality. When I bought the bike it had a roadster tank and seat.

Sorry to hijack this thread. I will scan and post the letter from Mr. Hinton if anyone is interested.

It would be cool to read, I dont think anyone get's too uptight about thread hijacks. It's all for knowledge.

Actually, if you ever tear it down or take the tank off some detailed pics of the frame would be really interesting. That might be worth starting a whole new thread over.

The next conundrum I have to consider is that the original tank and tailpiece are fibreglass so the finish is a gel-coat. If I paint over the original finish then the bike is not truly original. Does it really matter?

It is a conundrum. I have the same issue insofar as my gelcoat has some spider webbing and a few nicks and deep scratches. I took my parts to a corvette specialist and a boat hull repairer and they both advised me to paint the parts.

Not to throw a wrench into the works - but you still need to consider that fact that the fiberglass tank was not designed for use with ethanol. It will break down over time and most sealing jobs fail after a couple of years. You could use race fuel that does not have ethanol in it, which is what I do, but that is a little bit of a pain and precludes taking any long trips.

I don't know what shape your tank and tail are in, but you can really do wonders polishing the gelcoat. Could you polish it really well and live with it for the sake of originality?