Commander colours

[re5rotary]

Hi did Commanders ever come in any colours other than the metallic silver/grey? I have seen photos of red and blue bikes but are these just repaints? I recently bought some Commander bodywork which is red but they were clearly silver grey originally regards Terry

[Richard Negus]

Terry,
Whilst Jaguar Dorchester Grey was the standard colour, there were quite a few that were painted other colours and about six that were polished white self-colour mouldings like the police machines.
The Candy Red ones tended to fade to a gold colour in strong sunlight, but the ones in metallic blue fared much better. There were a few in solid black and at least one in solid green.
Mine was polished white with a red stripe, done as a special order for the first owner.

Glenshee 4.jpg

R.

[Ian]

Factory records and inspection of the panels show that my Krauser was painted Ford Rosso Red from new.

The story goes that it was ordered as a dealer demonstrator and at the time (1992) Norton were grateful for the orders and would paint them any colour you liked!
I bought the bike from the dealer and have no reason to think it's not true.
I used to have a copy of the relevant factory final inspection page that showed it as red. The front tyre was fitted back to front, so had a rework! I still have it but can't find it now.

Many have been repainted now, of course.

Ian

[re5rotary]

Hi Richard was the candy red from another manufacturers range? The bodywork I bought I think is painted the candy red but this has been painted over the Dorchester grey regards Terry

[Richard Negus]

Terry,
To the best of my knowledge, all of the non-Grey colours were not specific to any make/model of other vehicle. Over the production period, several different paint shops were used so it's quite possible that that one's Candy Red was not quite the same as another's.
For a non-rotary project, I spent half a day looking at colour charts for a match to a Matchless red that was used on some models from Plumstead.

UT2-58-3.jpg

This is another I did that was re-painted, but the customer specified the exact colour he wanted from a Peugeot 308 he'd seen in a showroom and had the manufacturer's paint code. It looks flat in the photo, but it's actually a very fine metallic

4393-02.JPG

R.

[Anthony Duffield]

Terry,

My Commander was originally white, I always wanted a red bike so had it painted Candy Apple red, I originally contacted http://www.dream-machine.co.uk/ then found a chap local to me (Aberdeen) who did an excellent job.

So far it has not faded but the bike is looking a bit worse for wear just know with a few battle scars, but you don't get to ride thousands of miles without the odd mishap.

If I can find out how to reduce the size of a photo I will post a photo of my bike when it was looking really good.

Tony

[Anthony Duffield]

Three photos of my Candy Apple Red Commander

[Richard Negus]

Tony,
Lookin' good!
Thirty years old design and still a modern touring bike.
R.

[Charles Wilson]

What was it someone once said?
"The most desirable motorcycle in the world"
Still is.

RN, I know you are extremely proud of the work you have done on this Project through the decades since its inception.
You should be. Thank you.

CW

[re5rotary]

Thanks for the info on the colours everyone. Im sure the Jaguar grey was a good choice for the 'look' Norton obviously wanted, very BMWish. However it looks a totally different beast in the candy red but somewhat drab in the Jaguar colour. Although I was keen on keeping it original I don't think I can go past the red when I have my bodywork repainted

regards Terry