1947 Norton 350T

1947 NORTON 350T BACKGROUND
Right after the War, all the British motorcycle manufacturers were gearing back up for civilian production and many were competing in various forms of racing. Road racing, various forms of off-road racing, and trials. Norton revived its last trials bike, used in the 1940 racing season, just before the War started. It was based on their ES2 490cc and 348cc singles. Norton used the same basic bikes, with girder forks, in the 1946 season, but by late 1946 were building production versions which would be titled as 1947 models. The resulting bikes, the 350T and 500T retained the girder forks, until late in the 1947 model year, when they got the telescopic forks you see here. But the factory works bikes, made available only to factory riders and a select few factory-backed privateers, used telescopic forks from the start. The 1947 350T would be a one-year-only production bike. The 500T continued on however. In the end, when pitted against the best from BSA and Matchless/AJS, the 1947 Norton 350T and 500T proved to be uncompetitive, and failed in the marketplace as the result. But like all Nortons, it was a handsome machine in it’s silver and black livery, it’s well-balance proportions and aggressive stance. Besides being fast, great-handling bikes, Nortons were known for their good looks.