Roy Bacons "Illustrated Norton Buyers Guide" can be a help for the novice who wants to aquire a Norton. In nine chapters it looks at the different Norton models and eras, with a healthy dose of warnings thrown in that, unfortunately, the entranced Norton-owner-to-be throws overboard the minute he set eyes on the model that caught his fancy.
Very much down-to-earth tips and explanations nonetheless try to give fair and good advice to the Norton prospect, and, for those who can read and digest what they read, it is certainly a helpful book.
With a lot of black and white pictures that mostly but, unfortunately, not exclusively show period shots of Nortons the book was a good guide for buyer and restorer alike, was it not for some freely invented examples of Norton petrol tank painting, a notorious downfall of many OHC Norton restorations.
The rear of the book has the usual systematic Bacon appendix, something I personally find very helpful and that, though in even more comprehensive form, I know of only one other author, John Nelson (ex-Norton Motors colleague!) in his Triumph books. Bacons list of engine/frame numbers, model identification and year-to-year modification, as well as his notes on colours can certainly stop a potential purchaser from falling for a hodgepodge of Norton (and often other manufacturers) parts masquerading as the genuine article. The Dominator on page 124 is a good example.
The book is not as good as Bacons books on Norton Singles and Norton Twins, but certainly a good starting point when you are looking for a Norton, bearing in mind the other two books are no longer in print.