NORTON DOMINATOR 99
For many classic riders, Norton’s twin engine in the iconic featherbed frame is the ultimate British bike. Stuart Urquhart takes a spin on a Dommi that dazzles – in every respect…
For many classic riders, Norton’s twin engine in the iconic featherbed frame is the ultimate British bike. Stuart Urquhart takes a spin on a Dommi that dazzles – in every respect…
Ask any driver of an enthusiast’s sports car, be it a classic MG or a modern Ferrari, why red is the only suitable colour for their macho wheels. ‘Exciting, thrilling and stirs the blood’, might be the-off-cuff reply. Believe what you will, but the wisdom of expert psychologists informs us that the colour red is associated with energy, war, strength, power and determination as well as passion, desire, love and success. The colour red is also supposed to enhance human metabolism, increase respiration rate, and raise our blood pressure. Another understanding is that red attracts attention more than any other colour and is therefore often used to signify danger.
Small wonder then, that the presence of a red motorcycle can cause an otherwise disinterested biker to come across all hot and bothered. Would it be far-fetched or fanciful to deduce that several popular Italian thoroughbreds such as MV Agusta, Ducati and Moto Guzzi exploited red as a cunning ploy to win sales? Small wonder, then, that we all get excited about Italian motorcycles.
The same could be said of the flamboyant red Norton Dominator 99 that poses seductively throughout these pages. According to owner Sandy Bloy, red is the only colour for this popular 1950s twin – definitely not dull polychromatic grey or boring, bland and passé black! Sandy, as we can see, is passionate about red Norton Dominators, and who can blame him?
Back in his teenage phase, Sandy’s first encounter with a red Dominator occurred when his friend Jim ordered a brand new, 1956 Model 99 from Pride & Clarke in London. The bike was delivered by British Rail, and Sandy vividly recalls the impression the Norton had on him when they went to collect Jim’s new bike at Perth station. The Dominator was double-wrapped in corrugated cardboard held by string and sticky tape, but hints of glinting chrome and gloss red paintwork peeped through the wrapping – even the BR guardsman was babbling excitedly as he assisted the boys in unwrapping the motorcycle.
Then Sandy had to endure restless nights listening to Jim’s 99 twittering around the back streets of Perth in the company of some chuffing singles. In the wee sma’ hours Sandy made a promise to himself that one day he would have a red Dominator like Jim’s.
Just four years later Sandy’s dream of Dominator ownership became a reality – although it was more of ‘polychromatic grey’ wish come true. Sandy had a motorcycling cousin, Vinny, who had a poly-grey ’56 Dominator 88. Unfortunately Vinny dropped his 88 on black ice and the Norton came off far worse than its pilot. The double whammy for Vinny was that he needed a commuter motorcycle to get to and from his work. Fortunately, he remembered Sandy’s dream, and he offered his crash-damaged Dominator as a straight swap for a running Ariel Arrow that Sandy had recently restored to the road. Sandy was thrilled with the idea of owning his first Dominator and so they shook on the deal.
Without delay Sandy began to sort the damage, which mostly amounted to badlydented tinware on one side. He turned the Dominator into a café racer (the rage of the 1960s) and binned the damaged mudguards, toolboxes and headlight. Alloy guards replaced crumpled steel and road-scratched exhausts were ditched for swept-backs and reverse cone megaphones.
‘Following weeks of hard graft I soon had Vinny’s 88 back on the road,’ said Sandy. ‘ The bike was very good to me, but I only ran it for a couple of months before a racing pal pestered me into selling it to him. A painter by trade, he was nicknamed “Rad” because he painted his racing bikes in bright colours – so it will come as no surprise when I tell
you he cruised the streets in a dazzling vista orange Capri. But I was flabbergasted when he painted my ex-Dominator in vista orange too – not quite red, but nearly!
‘Rad ran the 88 for years before it suddenly produced a death rattle. Unfortunately Rad had forgotten to turn on an oil tap he’d fitted to prevent wet-sumping. So the bright orange Dominator came back to me in exchange for an AJS field bike I’d built. I was more than a little chuffed, as I loved my old Dominator 88. I have never forgotten its registration number either – JTS 345 – I wonder where she is now?’
Since then Sandy has garaged no less than seven Norton Dominators, including an Atlas, none of which was red. Readers will have noticed this is not the case with Sandy’s current and very red Dominator 99 pictured hereabouts – probably the cause of your rising respiration and blood pressure…
However, worry not, in the interests of restoring calm, here follows a brief history:
Norton launched their 596cc Model 99 Dominator twin in 1956 by increasing the capacity of the 88 model’s engine from 497cc. Bore and stroke went up to 68 by 82mm from the previous model’s 66 by 72.6mm. The new 99 model was of similar dimensions and weight to the 88, tipping the scales at 395lb. It produced 31bhp (an extra 2bhp over the 88) and had a top speed of over 100mph. The engine unfortunately would develop problems if tuned for racing, whereby the crankshaft was prone to breaking under the stresses of competition. This led to the emergence of the famous Triton, which married the fabled featherbed’s handling to Triumph’s highly-tuneable Bonneville motor.
Left in its standard spec however, the Norton 99 Dominator proved to be an excellent all-rounder and was well respected
by the motorcycle press of the day. By 1958 Norton had introduced twin carbs and alternator electrics. The wideline featherbed frame was replaced by the slimline in 1960, before this Dominator ceased production just two years later.
Red, the colour of Sandy’s model, was available on both the 88 and 99 Dominator models from 1958 to 60. Other options were metallic blue, and black and silver. The equally popular polychromatic grey was introduced by 1951 on the 500cc 88 model and continued throughout Dominator production. In the early 1960s optional colour combinations were introduced, along with chromed mudguards. These included: black and dove grey; blue and dove grey; cream and dove grey; red and dove grey; and green and dove grey. Polychromatic grey and dove grey became available on the later 88SS and De Luxe models.
‘Being wedded to the motorcycle trade I had a well-known friend who’s the proprietor of Spinning Wheel classic cars in Chesterfield’, continued Sandy. ‘Adrian dabbles in classic cars and motorcycles and for several years he was aware that I had been on the lookout for an original red 99 Dommi. He’d also expressed a keen interest in a beautiful black and chrome Velocette Viper that I’d restored. Then out of the blue Adrian emailed me some irresistible pictures of a nice red Dominator 99 he just happened to have in stock. 364 CJO looked very appealing on my PC screen, and looked in better than oily-rag condition. However Adrian informed me that it would require some sorting.
‘Of course, I knew his game as soon as he asked if I still had my lovely Viper. Following some lengthy negotiations we eventually agreed on a straight swap, subject to me viewing the Dominator. So I borrowed a pal’s horsebox and trotted down to Chesterfield with my Velo strapped inside the box. Thankfully, the 99 looked even better than its digital effigy and I returned to Scotland with my prize, much relieved that my search for a red Dominator had come to an end.
‘Although I was informed that 364 CJO had been part of a private collection, it became apparent that the bike had not been used for a long time. It just would not start. Even an obligatory service of changing oils, fuel and plugs made no difference. I also cleaned and reset the distributor points and there was a healthy spark. Compression also felt good, and yet I experienced great difficulty in starting the bike from cold. Playing with the choke settings made no difference, nor did flooding the carb or opening the throttle. I kicked it over ’til I was blue in the face!
‘I was truly stumped, because in my experience Norton Dominators are easy to start. Fuel, spark, bang – and off you go is the norm. I had fuel and sparks, but alas, no bang. When she did eventually fire up, the engine started misfiring on one cylinder. I had just enough time to check that engine oil was returning to the tank before blue smoke began puffing from both exhausts. I knew then that I was looking at some serious fettling…’
Sandy suspected an ignition fault was the cause of poor starting. He had already decided to upgrade to a 12V system and fitted a new alternator, battery, rectifier and coil. The distributor and points were perfectly serviceable and only required the points to be dressed with a magneto file. While attempting to trace the erratic running fault, Sandy noticed that the Monobloc carb’s float bowl had a gasket section ominously protruding from its cover. When he investigated inside the carb, Sandy also discovered that some poorly-applied silicone was preventing the float from operating correctly, and could possibly be a cause of fuel starvation.
‘After stripping the carburettor and sorting the sticking float, I thought I had solved the poor starting problem. But then I noticed the throttle slide was stamped “three and a half”