An early block print ...

 

... of a Model 8, from 1919. Details are in our copy of the 1919 brochure - engine guaranteed to do a 65 mph lap at Brooklands and a maximum speed of 70mph for the kilometre. Brakes not suitable for modern traffic!

1919 Sturmey-Archer booklet

-SG- Many thanks to Ian for the loan of this rare 1919 publicity booklet for S-A gears - both three and two speed.  Worth noting that the gear change mechanism shown for the CS box is basically that used up to end '28 on diamond frame Nortons!

Late1910s model 3 1/2 HP Norton

-JdK- Caroline sent this photo of her grandfather, a Norton and a calf in the sidecar. Her grandfather was born in  1886. The stirrup type front brake and the appearance suggest a late 1910s-early 1920s Model 3 1/2 HP.
Roger commented: "The Cheshire M registration ended in early 1920 so this would date the registration to late 1918/early 1919.  However, I am looking at motorcycle production after the Great War and very few machines were made before mid 1920 so I suspect that it was a wartime production used by the military as all civilian production was banned in late 1916. As the models didn't change until well after the war ended it will be difficult get get an accurate date but I would suggest 1916."

The FIRST OHV Norton ...

-SG- ... was seemingly built in 1919 but not by the factory! It was the brain-child of a Welsh enthusiast Charles Sgonina, who rode it to good effect in the 1919 Weston-super-Mare speed trials and elsewhere. He had carried out his modifications to a Model 9 and brief details are given in the report of the event in 'The Motor Cycle' of 4th September, which also includes a timing side photo.  Sgonina is well known in UK motorcycling history as he went on to build both single and double OHC power units, also Norton based, in the early twenties. The scans attached cover the event referred to above, and the DOHC Sgonina Special in its final form (note - it had a Sunbeam gearbox).  I might add that since the 1955 photos, it has, I am told, been 'tastefully' restored! Many thanks to Martin  for drawing our attention to this and sending the 1919 scans.

Roger has kindly generated a much clearer image of the 1919 Sgonina-modified Norton engine and this is provided along with a CAD model.  He has established that Sgonina lowered the engine in the frame by about an inch in order to provide clearance for the rockers.