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In the dustjacket, Morley is hailed as a great connoisseur of
Nortons. I am willing to believe him he is an enthusiast, but no
more. I have seen many a very good picture taken by Don Morley
in the classic racing era, but his knowledge of Norton production
models is very limited.
It is not the quality of the photos. It is the descriptions of what they supposedly show.
A yellow Fastback with some café racing goodies from various
aftermarket sources fitted is still a Fastback Commando, and by no
stretch of imagination a genuine Production Racer, of which only
just over a hundred were built.
The aftermarket-cast-wheel fitted, aftermarket megaphone-equipped
dualseat(!) JPN lookalike we know from various NOC calendars and
Norton publications remains a standart Commando, modified with a JPN fairing, but not a genuine JPN
Replica, of which only about 300 were produced, etc, etc.
Unfortunately, the author knows little about Norton
production models and cares less. Even more unfortunate is that
Norton enthusiasts take this misinformation and believe it- I know-
I had several customers ask me about the "JPN megaphones"
over the years!- and probably, in a worst-case scenario, try to
recreate these freak motorcycles in their quest to
restore "back to original", or give a genuine one a miss
because "it does not look like the one in Morleys book".
There are better picture books about, if a picture book is what you
want. |