1968 Norton Commando paint colour

What means original? Depends on what you have and where you want to go. I didn't have much choice, it was a rust bucket, the f/g was painted black and a lot of the parts needed plating/repairing/replacing. Once you break into the motor and replace the slotted pistons is it original? No, but then who can see that. I opted to go with new paint, polishing and plating most of the hardware, replacing what I could not repair. All in all, though, it has an original look only better, because the parts are new or better, it has real seals and probably the best part of non-originality is there is not an oil slick under it. Sometimes you just have to replace stuff, it wears out.

Unless you want to store it in a museum.

Dave
69S

Well said DogT. Even in a concours restoration compromises have to be made and a balance must be struck. If you want complete originality you clean her up carefully and live with the cosmetic and mechanical warts.

For what its worth, an original gelcoat 68 sold a couple days ago on eBay and it didn't go for any more or less than they usually do. It was a clean runner with no major damage. Not a trailer bike, but not a project either. If it were me I would probably paint to match the side cover and oil tank.

I must be one of the only guys to get lucky with the tank lining. Mines still as good as the day I did it. The thread on fiberglass tanks is worth a read.

I'm not entirely sure the '68 that sold this past weekend on Ebay was gelcoat, it may well have been paint. I looked at the bike pretty closely and asked for a close-up picture by email. The tank looks as if there was a fair amount of orange peel. I don't know if it makes much of a difference whether the tank is painted or original gelcoat to most buyers.

The red and silver metalflake Fastbacks are rare. I think they were 1969 US models. The early Commando chainguard in Blackcat's photos frequently cracked at its mounting points. Mine did that years ago and has been off the bike since then.

An old but interesting thread. I recently acquired a '68 fastback s/n 126157 project bike. Frame and motor serial numbers match. The original color appears to be a burgundy red with a bit of metal flake. Appears to be a silver stripe down the back of the tail piece but I cannot be sure as the whole thing was painted green at some point in the past. Does anyone have information about this paint scheme?

I sent the frame to Framecrafters for repair ... it should be back to me next month.

The triple trees that came with this project were chromed. Is that correct for this paint scheme?

Tom S., Winter Springs, FL

Could your bike have looked like the 2 tone red and silver fastbacks, shown earler in this thread (and as below) ?
These came out for 1969 as a factory finish.
Aircraft type paint stripper (methylene chloride) would take off any paint, and leave the fibreglass intact.
Although the red bits may be a painted finish, over the silver flake in the gelcoat.

Chromed triple trees are some previous owners modifications, not factory.
It has had 40+ years of a previous life and previous owners, after all...

68&below said:

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.

Click to expand...

Missed this request.....

Verilly I say un to thee , dont paint the bleeding thing . You can spare tank etc , and paint THEM ! . :lol:

Wouldve been thusish , but All silver ;



First Shipment Thus ;



Or if youre really in trouble ;



Was a Show Bike in NZ , centuries ago . silver frame , orange seat , Green Blob badges . Though ' Norton ' badges fitted for sale ,
the Green Blobs came with it though never fitted . Somewhere theres two green blobs , hopefully not 60 ft. down in the tip .

ALL the Bodywork was SILVER . ( all the local woman thought he must be James Bond . stirred not Shaken , etc . Super Cool .
The talk of the Town . Got to interogate the pilot severally , over the years .
Departing for far of places , youd hear it up out of the valley , on a quite afternoon . 43.000 miles on it , with no bother
Stored a few years and sold later . Fudge . It was the First Commando in NZ , imported by Colemans & displayed at the Motor Show in Auckland .

Fitting a Orange Seat Cover will enable you to indulge in one-upmanship with these snots . 8)



Centuries ahead of its time, the Fastback . Obviously .
The early ones were possibly built by more experianced workman , to standards not achieved again untill perhaps the MkV 750s .
well Worth maintaining the Origanal equipment & replace only parts as necessary . The Originality will make it worth 10 times as much .


Or you could put Chrome tape on the frame , fit handlebar streamers , and paint it matte black .

Bigger is Better , Tecnically its a Mk III Atlas . :? ( 20M3 serial ) no doubt someone will contradict this .



Orig. Spec fittment .



" Although the first Commando appeared in late 1967, it was not called the Fastback until other Commando models appeared. "

Egad. . .



Fore Suthe .

Matt Spencer said:

Bigger is Better , Tecnically its a Mk III Atlas . :? ( 20M3 serial ) no doubt someone will contradict this .

Click to expand...

The engine unit might be a Mk3 Atlas.

But does that also apply to the frame/cycleparts ???
We wouldn't have thought so.
So it should be contradicted....

This is my first time communicating on your Access Norton site. I hope I can add some value to the Silver/Orange seat fastback discussion. I enjoyed reading the threads on Silver/Orange seat Norton fastbacks and also about the Red/Silver Fastback model. I have a Red/Silver fastback in my basement, it is in excellent condition. The seat still has the tags on it and the tank has never had fuel in it. The tank is indented and has Norton/VillIers globes.
I bought the bike years ago, there were parts missing off of it as the bike was being used for spare parts to service other Nortons. I believe I paid $350-$400 for the complete bodywork and seat alone.

In 1967-69 I worked [hung around] a Norton Dealership called Maritime Motorcycles Sales and Service, owned by John Johnson-a local legend in his time ..
John, who was based in New Brunswick, also sold Nortons in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island.
At that time, I was un-crating Nortons, all these strange looking ones, no pipes/big knobby tires, high pipes both sides, high pipes one side, G15csr's, every Norton colour in the rainbow , including orange seats, Atlas' s painted total white [I think including white frames], even a police bike 1968-69 vintage with chrome fenders and a silver painted tank e/w.all the police trim. This Commando bike is still in my brothers possession, after buying it new for $700.00 in 1971 after it remained unsold for years.
I did not understand then, but I understand now that John was buying the left overs from the Norton Factory, the hybirds, the fastbacks,the p11's , s and ss's, the highriders, also the Export white Police bikes that were not selling.

Years ago John allowed me to take his old Importation paperwork and store it at a better location. A lot of it was damaged, waterstained, but still gives an interesting story. Today I realize I was unpacking priceless ss's and hybirds that were being sold for next to nothing. I remember uncrating dozens of Red/Silver fastbacks and many purple,blue metalflake s's. I though all stock fastbacks were Red/Silver.

John is older and he is still around, I am going through the paperwork with him. He is still bitter about the factory problems that he had to deal with. The lack of parts, necessitated the need to strip new Nortons for parts to keep the "summer crowd going" . and yes he was buying Nortons unsold from the previous year, at discounts. I have all the old factory prices for batch purchases by John.

Here is information from one shipping document as follows : Shipping from Alexander dock, Liverpool, to the order of Furness Withy Co. Ltd. Dispatched per s.s. Newfoundland.
3 G15CSR 123451 123449 123407
7 Norton motorcycles model 750cc Commando U.S.A. spec. Silver and Orange Seats Engine and Frame No. 127437 127391 127417 127419 127399 127393 127637

When I can figure out how to send pictures, I will included a picture of my Red/ Silver fastback. I made a mistake several years ago, when I had decided to put the bike back on the road. As it had sat for over 40 yrs. I sent all the fasteners to be Cadium plated and the Chrome to be refinished. The Cad. turned out perfect. The chrome is to flashy [overchromed]. After a $1700. charge for the chrome...it really belongs on a creampuff chopper. My mistake- with the Instructions given to the Hell's Angels plate shop in Montreal....No, I did not ask for the Customer Service Dept.

I have a large pile of papers to explore, I believe that I have one document, with serial #'s, that identifies 20 Commando ss's that came to Maritime Motorcycle . This is in response to an ss owner in Ontario he stated that only 1-3 ss's came to Canada.

Cheers

The two bikes on the stand at the 1967 Earl's Court show were silver, with orange seats and the notorious "green globe" badges. One of the smart-ass magazine writers "wondered" if the bikes had been funded by the Irish Republic Tourist Board, as our color scheme (substituting silver for white) was the same as their flag. Someone visiting the stand asked "why are the turn signals green?"

As far as I can recall, the first batch of production bikes out of Plumstead were the same color scheme as the show bikes, but there was such a stink over the "green globe" logo, that a proper "Norton" script was soon substituted. I had emigrated to the US by July '68 and was too busy integrating myself into Boeing and the rest of the family into the US lifestyle to keep track of Norton, but I have a strong impression that at least the first couple of hundred bikes were silver, with orange seats.

How interesting! I can not read the shipping date on the document yet as it is so faded with water stains, but the next document attached to it has a date of : 1st of January,1968 It is from: Norton Villiers Limited
Norton Matchless Division
44 Plumstead Road, London SE18

Addressed to: Maritime Motor Cycles
New Brunswick, Canada

From : D.W. Golding
General Sales Manager, Norton Motors

He is discussing Invoices and banking arrangements. He regrets that due to raw material cost increases, as well as other overheads, it is essential to increase the price of the machines.
He continues " You will note however, that in spite of the increase in the sterling price, machines will, due to devaluation of the pound, cost you less than you previously paid."
He concludes the document with " Yours faithfully "

This morning I went to look at my Red/Silver fastback, to recheck the serial numbers. I have never registered this bike. I noticed years ago that numbers did not match. I read [some wheres?] that the motors might have been installed in frames from an earlier production batch.

My fastback, that I have had for over 40 years, has the following serial numbers : Frame 130034
Trans 130034
Motor 127437
I am disappointed that the numbers don't match. Particularly since I notice that 127437 is identified as coming to Canada as a Silver/Orange fastback, as shown by the previous shipping document.
We stripped so many new bikes back then, I hate to admit it, but maybe parts got mixed up. I remember being told to strip at brand new all white 750 Atlas, still n the crate, to remove one connecting rod, to supply a customer for $35.
The brand new parts were scattered all over the yard by the next day. There was no room in the shop for more Nortons.
I wonder how this possible mix- match can devaluate the fastback? Any comments from anyone would be appreciated.
I noticed that my 750 s type has serial # 130079/P , not very far from 130034 on the fastback.

I also have documentation of a lot of Nortons that came in damaged from shipping [ or crating]. the documents discuss the Norton factory paying for repairs and replacement of smashed components. That might explain the changes. I have to go through all the documented serial # machines that were repaired. I remember stripping a lot of s types .
Wait until John hears that I got got a response from someone from the original Plumstead Road factory. I know he will comment as follows " fast's response I ever received from them.
On another note, John still has his 1950 500cc Manx , that was brought over as a spare, by Barrett, for the Daytona race . It has never been restored, but has been modified to Johns liking.
Regards,

DavidW said:

My fastback, that I have had for over 40 years, has the following serial numbers : Frame 130034
Trans 130034
Motor 127437
I am disappointed that the numbers don't match. Particularly since I notice that 127437 is identified as coming to Canada as a Silver/Orange fastback, as shown by the previous document.

Click to expand...

You have seen the recall that was applied to the early Commando frames, to be replaced/repaired with the brace tube under the top frame tube. ?
This was to fix the frame cracking just behind the steering head, this being somewhat dangerous to the rider...
Maybe your frame was replaced with another, and they used the gearbox that was in it too ?

Be interesting to know if Joe at Andover Norton has the Factory Records for these early Commandos,
and if they identify they were built with orange seats or not.

Good Day,

Good thread as I'm restoring a '68 Commando, serial #: 127210 (all matching) and was dispatched to Toronto in June of '68 so was most likely sold by Firths on the Danforth which closed it's door in the early '80's. I have owned it since '77 but has sat in boxes since '80 and now that I have the place, time and $$ "all at the same time", it's getting a ground up restoration. I believe it's "R" model and when I chipped paint away from the bottom of the tank it came out as metal flake blue.

I'm going to paint the tank the original Fireflake Red with the small metal flake silver side covers. I do have the House of Color paint numbers that I got from a guy in B.C. who also has a "R" model.



John

68&below said:

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.

Click to expand...

I would be gobsmacked if the factory let an original, gusseted, frame go for any purpose. When I was there they had a factory building at Andover with the first production batch of Commandos with gusseted frames in bits. A couple of us tried to buy one to build a racing bike, despite offering to waive any legal rights, the request was denied. As far as I can remember the frames were cut crudely (with a gas axe) into bits and then sent for scrap. The remaining parts Wheels, forks, motor/gearbox etc were built up using new type frames.
cheers
wakeup

frankdamp said:

The two bikes on the stand at the 1967 Earl's Court show were silver, with orange seats and the notorious "green globe" badges. One of the smart-ass magazine writers "wondered" if the bikes had been funded by the Irish Republic Tourist Board, as our color scheme (substituting silver for white) was the same as their flag. Someone visiting the stand asked "why are the turn signals green?"

As far as I can recall, the first batch of production bikes out of Plumstead were the same color scheme as the show bikes, but there was such a stink over the "green globe" logo, that a proper "Norton" script was soon substituted. I had emigrated to the US by July '68 and was too busy integrating myself into Boeing and the rest of the family into the US lifestyle to keep track of Norton, but I have a strong impression that at least the first couple of hundred bikes were silver, with orange seats.

Click to expand...

I have an original orange seat!

I hadn't realised that one (or even both?) of the bikes on the stand at Earl's Court were non-runners. All my test miles were on one of the two original "hacks" which had some ugly-looking fiberglass tanks with a dull orange color and (I think) black-painted frames. We couldn't tell how fast we were going on those bikes during the test miles because the speedometers were differently geared than the transducers at the wheel (by a factor of 1.6), so the speedo showed 90 mph when we were only doing 50 (which wasn't very often!)

By the time of that show, we at Wolverhampton had handed the Commando off to Plumstead Road and had started in on the Stormer, along with some investigative work on the P-11 and the M-X competition program with the early Stormers.