Lot details
Registration No: 997 GCV
Frame No: R14 88623
Engine No: 88623 R4
cc: 500
MOT Expiry Date: None

During its long production life at Bracebridge St. the 490 cc ES2 consolidated its reputation as a well mannered, if slightly underpowered, OHV single well deserving of it's Norton tank badges. From the original plunger framed ES2's introduction in 1947, right up to 1963, by which time it had received many major changes including the incorporation of the revered Featherbed frame and revised Roadholder front forks, the model lived up to its appropriately colloquial nickname, the ''Easy Two''. Easy to ride, maintain and live with, the bike's softly tuned engine, having been developed from the earlier model 18, continued almost unchanged throughout its production. The name being so highly respected that it was to live on after the 1962 amalgamation of Norton Motors into the AMC group, when the ES2 became a rebadged Matchless G80.
According to the accompanying original buff log book 997 GCV was first registered on March 9th 1960 in Cambourne, Cornwall by Parade Motorcycles and has spent all it's life in the west country. A Norton Owners club data sheet confirms fitting of flat bars and chrome mudguards when new, the original colour being green although a previous owner, famed Cornish speedway rider Kessell, has repainted the panels in Army drab. The vendor purchased the bike from Mr Kessell in 1997 intending to restore it but has not touched it since. Although somewhat dishevelled, beneath the khaki lurks a very desirable example of one of the best loved British bikes of the post war era. A DVLA v5 is with the vehicle.