Norton P11
Norton P11 Background & History
The Norton P11 was a marriage between the 750cc Norton Atlas engine and the Matchless G15CS chassis and it was produced from 1967 through the 1969 model year. At the time, the US motorcycle market, which was always booming back then, was on fire with desert racing. Based almost entirely in the vast deserts between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, desert racing as a sport and as sanctioned racing events has exploded in popularity. While lightweight 2-stroke singles were starting to dominate the lower classes, heavyweight British singles and twins ruled the open class. The Triumph TR6 was the undisputed king of this segment, but an intrepid Southern California Norton-Matchless Dealer named Bob Blair saw some room for another contender. He dropped a 750 Norton Atlas engine into a lightweight Matchless G85CS frame (these frames were constructed of Reynolds 531 high-strength steel tubing), taking some lessons from Rickman's successful engine swapping efforts. The result was the first Norton P11 prototype. Blair loaned the bike to veteran desert racer Mike Patrick who took it out into the desert for a week and just ran the daylights out of it. He reported that it ran perfectly and performed well. When he returned the bike to Blair, Patrick's advice was not to change a thing. Blair sent the prototype back to the factory in England for the final round of production engineering prior to full production.
The 1967 Norton P11 combined Norton Atlas 750cc power with Matchless off-road handling to make on outstanding desert racer.
The factory did end up changing a few things, but most were in the interest of easing production and/or lowering costs. The dual Amal Monoblocs were swapped for Concentrics, the Lucas magneto was ditched in favor of an alternator-and-coil ignition system, a skid guard was added to protect the crankcase, and a tach and speedometer. When the Norton P11 arrived in showrooms the retail price was $1,339, a high price at the time. That and Norton's lack of desert racing cred (they had plenty of street cred) led to poor sales and the model was dropped in its third model year. Norton was owned by AMC (Associated Motor Cycles) who also owned Matchless, AJS, James and Francis-Barnett. By 1962, Norton sales were outstripping their manufacturing capacity of their Bracebridge Street factory, the original Norton plant. Parent company AMC made the decision to move Norton into their own plant at Plumstead where all other AMC products were made. This opened up all sorts of opportunity to mix the DNA of different bikes, like the Norton Atlas and the Matchless G15CS. It took a few years to get it done, but by 1966 a production-ready prototype had been cobbled together. One result was that the P11 was built both as a Norton and as a Matchless. They were mechanically identical, with different trim and paint schemes. The Matchless P11 was to be named “Cheetah 45”, but thankfully they stuck with P11.
This 1967 Matchless P11 shows how they were practically identical to the Norton P11 other than the badges on the tank.
By the mid 1960s AMC was struggling to survive and by 1966 the handwriting was on the wall. Almost the entire inventory of motorcycles was shelved due to poor sales and profitability. Only the Norton twins and the Matchless singles remained. And they were built in the same factory, all under one roof, so, someone came up with the brilliant idea of combining the two to challenge Triumph’s dominance in US desert racing.
In late 1968 the Norton P11 was refocused away from desert racing (where 2-strokes were taking over) and toward a street scrambler. They renamed it 'Ranger'. This is a 1969 Norton Ranger.
PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT
Originally developed as a prototype in 1966 by Southern California Norton distributor Bob Blair, he dropped the Norton Atlas engine into a Matchless G85CS frame. The CS designation stood for Competition Springframe, referring to Matchless’ lightweight racing frame made of Reynolds 531 steel tubing. The goal was to achieve the best power-to-weight ratio possible, and beat the Triumph. The Amal Monobloc carburetors were ditched for the newer Amal Concentric carbs in 30mm. The magneto was replaced with twin coil ignition. It was light, powerful and fast, and handled well.
The 750cc Norton Atlas engine was shoehorned into the Matchless G15CS chassis with custom aluminum mounting brackets.
NORTON P11 GOES RACING
Desert racing legends like Bud and Dave Akins and a mysterious rider known only ‘Harvey Mushman’ who actually turned out to be screen legend Steve McQueen. Racing successes were many, and the P11 earned a reputation for being fast, reliable, great-handling and above all competitive.
Steve McQueen riding one of his Norton P11s.
JUST 3 YEARS IN PRODUCTION
Originally intended as an off-road racer in 1967, the Norton P11 quickly morphed into a street scrambler. What AMC needed were sales, big sales. What they got was a total of 2,500 P11s sold in its three model years, 1967, 1968 and 1969. Not nearly enough to save the company. It was never a high volume affair to begin with. The bikes were built out of spare parts that AMC had lying around. By 1968, the desert racing landscape was changing and lightweight 2-strokes were taking over. The days of big, heavy 4-strokes was waining. Starting in 1968, the Norton P11 was mildly revised to the P11A specification and marketed as the Norton Ranger with a more comfortable seat for road use.
Clint Eastwood riding his Norton P11 on the set of 'Where Eagles Dare' in 1968 with costar Mary Ure riding on back.
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