1990 Norton F1, 588cc. Registration number G663 OUA. Frame n...

Hammer

£25,000

1990 Norton F1, 588cc. Registration number G663 OUA. Frame number P55 050012. Engine number P55 050012.
Norton, under the banner of Norton Villiers Triumph, produced their very last Commando models in 1978. Prior to this time, Norton engineers had been working on the P41 rotary-engined project, and this continued after the demise of the Commandos. In 1979 the Mark I appeared, and 25 examples were produced. These were followed in 1981 by a Mark II version which went into production as the Interpol II for sale to a few Police forces. The motorcycling public were clamouring for a civilian version of the bike, such was the esteem of the Norton name, and eventually it appeared in the form of the Classic, a limited edition of 100 machines released in 1987, dressed in the traditional Norton colours of silver, with black and red lines. Once the Classics had sold, the pressure was on for other machines, and this was eventually fulfilled, after some delays, by the water-cooled Commander in 1988.
After the takeover of Norton in 1987 by Phillipe Le Roux's consortium, an old design-study was resurrected. Known as 'Project 55', the creation of a super-sports bike was coupled with a return to racing in the hope that improvements on the racing bikes could filter into the road machine development. Utilising the water-cooled engine in a box-section aluminium alloy frame, a prototype was displayed at the Motorcycle Show in 1989. The name 'F1' had been decided upon, the livery derived from John Player Special, the racing team sponsors, and the lessons learned from racing the RCW588 were incorporated into the F1. Only available in 1990 and 1991 it is thought that no more than 140 F1s were made, and Norton's financial and internal problems came to a head in 1992, resulting in the cessation of motorcycle production.
ace-styled and painted in the John Player Specials livery of the works bikes ridden by Steve Spray and Trevor Nation, the F1 made do with 94bhp as opposed to the racer’s 150-plus, a figure which put its performance (top speed was around 145mph) on a par with that of contemporary sports 600s from Japan. In the quality of its equipment though, the F1 was streets ahead of the opposition: Spondon alloy beam frame, White Power ‘upside down’ forks, White Power rear shock, Brembo brakes all-round (floating discs at the front gripped by four-pot calipers). Even today there are few road bikes better specified. The downside however, was the F1’s cost: a colossal £12,700 (a Honda VFR750 cost £5,799 at the time) but then quality never did come cheap.
OUA was purchased new from Norton by Richard Machell on the 24th May 1990 (registration card on file), he used it very sparingly and sold it to our vendor in June 2003 with a mileage of 888 miles, in 2004 it was MOT'd at 905 miles and in 2005 he unfortunately dropped it on its left hand side whilst moving it. This necessitated an expensive visit to Norton (£3,075.69) to replace the panels, silencer and other parts, new tyres and brake pads were replaced on a separate invoice. It was unused thereafter and lived in his sitting room. The mileage today is 931.
Sold with the V5C, V5, original Norton purchase document, various Norton receipts, owners manual, Son of a Bitch promotion, two keys, old tax discs and other paperwork. Spicers can highly recommend this wonderful machine.