1949 Norton Dominator 600cc Café Racer Motorcycle

Description

The Norton company was formed by James Lansdowne Norton in Birmingham England in 1898. In 1902, Norton began building motorcycles with French and Swiss engines. In 1907, a Norton ridden by Rem Fowler won the twin-cylinder class in the first Isle of Man TT race, which began a sporting tradition that went on until the 1960s. The Isle of Man senior TT, the most prestigious of events, was won by Nortons 10 times between the wars and then every year from 1947 to 1954. The first Norton engines were made in 1908, beginning a line of side-valve single cylinder engines which continued with few changes until the late 1950s. After the second World War, Norton started to produce civilian motorcycles once more, a major addition in 1949 being the model 7 which later became known as the Norton Dominator, a 500cc pushrod twin cylinder. Breaking cover at the 1948 Earls Court Show, the earliest Model 7 bikes had a plunger rear-end frame with Roadholder forks but had, by 1952, adopted a swinging arm frame. Designed by Bert Hopwood, the Dominator was powered by a twin-cylinder 500cc OHV engine that developed around 29bhp, giving it ample performance - it could top 90mph under the right conditions. Notable features of the design included widely splayed exhaust ports that lent themselves to tuning. The Dominator handled well, was very reliable and generally performed very well as a road bike. Later models, using the Featherbed frame, went on to enjoy a successful racing career. Finished in the classic Norton colour scheme of polychromatic grey, the Model 7 certainly looked the part and remained in production until 1956.