WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Roger Fairclough says: “Back in the late ’50s/early ’60s, if you built a bike using a Triumph engine and a Norton frame it was called a Triton. If it was a Triumph engine in a BSA frame it was a TRIBSA and if you shoe-horned a Vincent into a Norton it was a Vinton (ie the engine came first). So where and when did it become a Norvin?”
Interesting question Roger, but surely there are no rules in special building! I think ‘engine first’ is just coincidence. I have seen Ariel/nortons labelled ‘Arton’ or ‘Noriel’. Besides John Willers’ legendary Featherbed Vincent had Vinnor painted on the tank. So I guess anything goes.
Speaking of John Willers, anyone with an interest in the ton-up years will enjoy Billy Well’s book Racing in the Street, Early Café Racer Years
(£10 from Amazon). John Willers was one of Billy’s crowd in the early ’60s and the book makes very enjoyable reading for those who were there – or, like me, just wish they had been.