Unfortunately there are no original markings to be found on the bike.
We had hoped to find anything on the tank but the only things visible are some left overs from the Norton name and service green in the dent on the right hand front of the petrol tank.
BEF very likely but impossible to prove, just like any other bike of the period found nowadays.
New from Norton for 1939!!!...the 1935 model...:laughing:...Nevertheless, a great find and I'm looking forward to seeing another one of your quality restorations...Ian
Hope to see it for real soon, a real time capsule!
I got an unrestored September '39 16H all matching numbers bike from Belgium some months ago, not had much time to do anything with it, but it did start up, But had some unidentifyable wheels in it, but found some nice ones in the meantime. More about this later I hope.
Bastiaan has yours also a matt chrome carb, with raised lettering for the model number? difficult to see on the pictures.
Those pictures are of the 1st Battalion, Queen Victoria’s Rifles (QVR), a TA regiment affiliated to The King’s Royal Rifle Corps, training as a motor-cycle reconnaissance battalion in the New Forest near Beaulieu. I bought the top picture off ebay :relaxed:
That's a shame, Rob...so annoying too that the complete tail unit has been lost.
We know that it was supplied to the British Army in 1939 and it has not been subject to a single service modification (carrier, Ni-Fe reg ulation etc.) It simply couldn't have remained in service after 1940 which doesn't leave any option beyond BEF.