1935 Model CS1 Norton - For sale

This 1935 CS1 is for sale at Ron's. Asking price £18,000.00. Contact Ron directly, the CS1 is not on his website.

c1935 ES2 Norton

These upswept exhaust pipes do look nice...

Frith and Harris

I guess these are Freddy Frith, on a Model 40 International and Ron Harris on a New Imperial; winners of respectively the Junior and Lightweight class in the 1935 Isle of Man GP.

Jon's 1935 CS1 Norton

Jon from the UK sent me these pics of his 1935 CS1 Norton: "This is my CS1. It’s reliable and fast enough to tour Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man and original enough to win the odd cup at local shows. It hamstrings me a bit as she is not just original period, but original as shipped in September 1935. The numbers all match the dispatch log except for the magdyno (Frame, Engine, Gearbox, Forks, Tank even the (cut down) duck tail on the rear mudguard has matching build numbers)."

1935 CS1 Norton

This 1935 CS1 is for sale at Yesterdays; it looks very decent to me.

Bas's 1935 Big Four Norton

Bas has been riding his 1935 Big Four Norton for a decade and it never let him down. While he is in the habit of completely dismantling motorbikes and storing them in little boxes he hasn't even looked once into the primary chain case of his Big Four; some say that his lack of spanner work on this bike is exactly the reason why Bas can still join us on trips on his Norton.

The Norton is a 1935 model with a few bits and pieces, like the front mudguard, that are not correct. It does have a very nice panel tank and because it probably still is on sidecar gearing it can keep up with a Model 18 on acceleration.

The Senior TT Assen, 6th of July 1935

All time hero Jimmy Guthrie on his factory Model 30 International racer who was to win the Senior that day. Note the enclosure of the rear wheel and the flanged aluminium rims. A very Dutch scenery, the names of a few villages are on the signpost.

...and someone completely unknown to me by the name of mr A. Binz from Switzerland (number 24). He gives a ride to Jack Schot from Holland who's motorcycle broke down. Standing by the side of the road is mr W. Hess from Germany with his Rudge. Binz's motorcycle looks like a very new and standard Model 30 International.

1935 Model 20 Norton

Another one sent by Dave. This is a c1935 Model 20 Norton; open diamond frame, parallel pushrod tubes, 8" headlight and the lock on the toolbox at the bottom of the lid; and off course a two-port head, look carefully and you'll see the additional exhaust pipe on the left hand side of the machine that distinguishes this Norton from the Model 18. No silencers and a very American scene.

Local Hero Piet van Wijngaarden

The original Assen racetrack, in the north of The Netherlands, was first used for the Dutch TT in 1925. Winner of the 500cc class in both 1925 and 1926 was Piet van Wijngaarden on a Norton. The pictures above show Piet (number 36) on the 26th of June 1926. The Norton most probably was a Model 18; the Model 25 did not really exist as a catalogued model until the autumn of 1926 but 'go-faster-bits' could be ordered from the factory and seem to have been fitted; note the very high filler neck. As the race was on public roads, fitting a horn must have made sense!

Going international in 1927, Stanley Woods joined the Assen TT and won the 500cc class on his Moore designed CS1. The photo shows Stanley working on his Norton; Piet van Wijngaarden watches. The flat tank Norton leaning against the wall on the right could be Piet's Model 18.

This photo shows Piet van Wijngaarden, Joe Craig, Walter Rusk and Jimmy Guthrie at the Assen TT in 1935; that year Rusk and Guthrie would win the 350cc class and 500cc class respectively.

Tim's 1935 16H Norton

Another set of photos sent to me by Tim. This is his unrestored, rusty, highly original and very useable 16H Norton. What strikes me about this 16H is how good these bikes look when everything is correct. Parts like the 8" headlamp, original handlebars and saddle make all the difference. Let's hope it never gets restored! Read Tim's story below:

"Attached pics of my fossilised 1935 16H. I got this Norton in 2001when I heard about it on the grapevine. I was told a guy had been to see it and had considered it too rusty to restore, so he had not bothered to buy it; I bought it over the phone 10 minutes later. 

It had been stood since the mid 1950s with only the rear chain and battery missing. The oil had run from the tank to the sump and had filled it up with the big end submerged in the oil. The engine was still free and had compression. I sent the magneto off for reconditioning, dismantled and cleaned the 3 brush dynamo and rewired the whole bike. New brake shoes, chains, tyres and new inner cables fitted, I like the look of the old frayed outer cables. Removed the top end and honed the cylinder and re ground the valves. Nice to see the engine number is also stamped on the cylinder base (see picture) not many Norton's around with matching numbers. Also note the correct saddle, handlebar, levers and tank fitments.

The Norton runs as it should and you can give it full throttle for long periods, as it it self governing. When the revs get too high the valves start to float, stopping any further revs, and this does no harm to the engine with it being a sidevalve. Not much of the original paint is left on the bike so I give it a coat of wax-oil every couple of years."

Charles Burki

Charles Burki was born in Indonesia ("Nederlands Indie"). From a very young age he combined excellent skills as an illustrator with a strong preference for technical subjects. When he settled in Holland in the middle of the 1930s, motorcycles were his favorite subject. He made many illustrations for the Dutch motorcycle magazine "Motor", like the one below (that must be a Norton M20 and a translation is not required!). It will not come as a surprise that he spent his earnings on fast motorcycles and in 1935 he bought an M30 International. Used solo for two years it was then hitched to a Steib sidecar; that's his wife Sophia in the chair.

In 1942 Charles was captured by the the Japanese and he spent three years in prison camps in Indonesia and Japan. Miraculously, he first survived when the boat he was travelling on was sunk by a torpedo. Then, on the 9th of august 1945, he survived the blast of the "Fat Man" atomic bomb that destroyed Nagasaki from a distance of less than 2000 meters.

The drawings below were made in the Fukuoka 14 prison camp in Nagasaki on pieces of scrap paper that he had found. Obvious, they were made from memory.

After the war, Charles continued to make a living drawing illustrations for companies such as Philips, Fokker and DAF, and off course for "Motor" magazine;  read more in the excellent book by Vincent Denters (above).

My 1935 ES2 Norton

This is the 1935 ES2 Norton that I had for several years. I bought it from Ron Farthing on January the 26th 1999. I still have the invoice, for 3000 GBP, which was a very decent sum in those days. The British registration was JD5714.

The ES2 can be recognized by the cradle frame, looking so much better on these late 1930s bikes than the open diamond as used by the M18s. It still has the exposed valve springs and the pushrod covers that run in parallel.

The bike served me well for many years. It was used on several camping trips, hauling me and my gear all the way from Utrecht to Groningen to Zeeland, Limburg and back again. I never encountered more severe problems than a lost nut or bolt. It wasn't that fast though, I have the feeling my current late 1920s M18s will give it a run for its money.

I sold the ES2 on the 25th of november 2005. I had just bought an Inter and the shed was too crowded to keep all of them. I did feel sorry for the bike when it was wheeled off to a trailer, destined for an undeserved restoration.