VEHICLE DESCRIPTION

 

MAKE NORTON MODEL COMMANDO MK.3

 

YEAR OF MANUFACTURE 1975

 

COLOUR SILVER

 

ENGINE/FRAME NO. 850,333,520

 

REGISTRATION DATE 18-08-1975

 

REGISTRATION NO. KYU 682 P

 

BOUGHT NEW FOR PERSONAL EXPORT BY. ROY FREDERICK RAMSBOTTOM

 

EXPORTED TO AUSTRALIA

18-08-75 TO 31-12-75

 

18-08-75 TO 31-12-75 The bike was used in England for the first four months of it's forthcoming very hard life. It had clocked 2,600 odd miles.

 

01-01-76 The bike was put onto container ship for Australia and arrived in Sydney in March 1976.

The bike was used in New South Wales for a while before starting on it's tour

 

03-06-76 Started the first leg of the Australia tour.

 

From Sydney moving north to far North Queensland, back down and across to the Northern Territory, down through South Australia, then ending up in Western Australia

Covering over 10,000 miles.

At Perth where it was shipped back to the U.K.early in 1977

 

MARCH 1977 The bike arrived back in Norwich

 

MARCH 1977 to OCTOBER 1980 The bike was being worked on and taken to the Isle of Man in 1978 and 1979 to the TT races. During this period it was stripped by ROY RAMSBOTTOM and brought back to reasonable running order.

 

OCTOBER 1980 to JANUARY 1982 The bike was being prepared for it's next marathon trip of Australia. Sponsorship was gained for parts and were put on the bike ready for it's trip. One kind sponsor shipped the bike out to Australia free of cost.

 

JANUARY 1982 to JULY 1983 The bike arrived in Australia in March, in this period the bike went through every State in Australia. Covering over 23,000 miles.

 

JULY 1983 to MARCH 1984 The bike was waiting to be put into a museum

 

MARCH 1984 to JUNE 1990 The bike stood in STANFORD HALL in with a collection of bikes at LUTTER WORTH

 

JUNE 1990 to MAY 1994 The bike was used as transport for ROY RAMSBOTTOM use in NORWICH while retraining

 

MAY 1994 to AUGUST 1996 The bike stood in a museum at NORTH WALSHAM until it was sold

 

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
AUSTRALIA REGISTRATION NUMBERS NEW SOUTH WALES
1976  RR12
1982 UU946
1982/83   RR33

 

Over the 21 years it was owned by ROY FREDERICK RAMSBOTTOM the bike only covered 50'000 miles but due to the extreme wear and tear of Australia it tore the moving parts to pieces and had to be rebuilt twice

 

QUESTIONS ASKED:

 

Why travel around Australia with a Norton once let alone

twice?

 

ANSWER:

 

Firstly it was the bike I wanted for the first trip and for the second trip it

was all that was available at the time that I felt would do the job.

 

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