Description
Norton 1948 Model M30 “Manx” 499 cc OHC single frame & engine # C11M 14566
After five years of meticulous work, Dutch self-employed mechanical engineer and 3D-artist, Niels Schoen, has completed a unique document. Counting 164 pages and narrated in English, this book entirely reveals his 1948 Norton racer down to the very last nuts and bolts in a series of 3D illustrations that are unseen before. It took him nine months to execute the main task: have each item taken from the motorcycle, measure them all up with conventional tools, and thereupon re-engineer the parts and assemblies into 3D with SolidWorks CAD software. Turning the pages will take you along on a technical journey; experience this legendary racing motorcycle yourself without getting the hands dirty. With each of the illustrations having the appearance of a postcard, one may speak in terms of an unapproachable achievement; the only thing closer to reality is the motorcycle itself. (from: www.vintagemotorcyclebooks.nl/)
The first post-war over-the-counter Manx racers became available in 1946. They were standard equipped with new telescopic forks, magnesium crankcases and aluminium-alloy cylinder barrels. This specimen was sent from the factory to Dutch importer A.R.O. in Eindhoven on February 12, 1948 and carried the frame and engine numbers she still bears today. The early racing history of the bike is not known as yet, but we do know that she was bought in 1963 from a local garage by a nephew from the well-known Dutch Norton collector Ko Konijn.
This gentleman made the Manx road legal by exchanging a number of components but he carefully kept all original parts together. The Norton was used as a commuter bike and also for holiday trips, among others to Austria. In the early seventies the Manx was transferred to the collection of Ko who put the machine back to her former original condition and put her in his Norton line-up. She stayed there till after February 1997 when Ko died and the machine came into the possession of Niels Schoen, who was also a nephew of Ko’s. Niels never rode the machine but has kept her in his living room as a work of art and a remembrance of his charismatic uncle Ko. What he did do was very special: in 2010 he started to take the machine apart till the last screw (in his living room) measured each part and composed a 3D drawing of each component. Almost 500 copies of the book have been sold worldwide and it is still available at www.vintagemotorcyclebooks.nl/ . With the machine come a number of photographs related to her history and a copy of the aforementioned book “Garden Gate Manx” with writer’s autograph. This “Garden Gate with a story” comes with Andre steering damper, bum pad, spare cylinder and Smiths 8000 rpm rev counter. She hasn’t been ridden for a very long time so recommissioning will be at hand is she is to be enjoyed on a track once more.