Norton’s first vertical twin, the Model 7 Dominator, was introduced in the late 1940s. Conceived by Bert Hopwood it incorporated several lessons learned from his involvement with other twin cylinder designs; i.e. with BSA at Small Heath, and Triumph at Meriden. Hopwood’s Norton twin reputedly ran cooler than its 500cc rivals and, while unable to match the higher rpm of Edward Turner’s Tiger 100, Dominators in general definitely “churned more power low-down”, together with quite reasonable handling. It should be stated however that the agreeable looking Model 7 was slightly overshadowed once the factory had launched its 88/99 Series featherbed-framed sibling. Because the majority of single down-tube and duplex-framed Nortons were automatically destined for overseas markets – under the government’s prevailing Export or Die campaign, a policy applicable to virtually every large capacity British bike – only a trickle of Model 7s were initially released on the home market. Putting these restrictions to one side, though, there were no less than seven parallel twins listed back then by UK factories, from which group the Dommie earned itself a reputation as one of the best. In the present ownership for the last three years, and sparingly used, it was in 2003 that the Norton underwent a very thorough standardisation exercise by its then owner, a stickler for originality, who insisted his collection of British machines were as close to factory specification as possible. The plunger-sprung Dominator started first kick during our inspection/photography visit, and is a beautifully preserved example of what – 55 years ago – was one of the market’s most exciting motorcycles. Supplied with V5C Registration form, and an MOT Certificate that expired in April 2007.
Norton’s first vertical twin, the Model 7 Dominator, was introduced in the late 1940s. Conceived by Bert Hopwood it incorporated several lessons learned from his involvement with other twin cylinder designs; i.e. with BSA at Small Heath, and Triumph at Meriden. Hopwood’s Norton twin reputedly ran cooler than its 500cc rivals and, while unable to match the higher rpm of Edward Turner’s Tiger 100, Dominators in general definitely “churned more power low-down”, together with quite reasonable handling. It should be stated however that the agreeable looking Model 7 was slightly overshadowed once the factory had launched its 88/99 Series featherbed-framed sibling. Because the majority of single down-tube and duplex-framed Nortons were automatically destined for overseas markets – under the government’s prevailing Export or Die campaign, a policy applicable to virtually every large capacity British bike – only a trickle of Model 7s were initially released on the home market. Putting these restrictions to one side, though, there were no less than seven parallel twins listed back then by UK factories, from which group the Dommie earned itself a reputation as one of the best. In the present ownership for the last three years, and sparingly used, it was in 2003 that the Norton underwent a very thorough standardisation exercise by its then owner, a stickler for originality, who insisted his collection of British machines were as close to factory specification as possible. The plunger-sprung Dominator started first kick during our inspection/photography visit, and is a beautifully preserved example of what – 55 years ago – was one of the market’s most exciting motorcycles. Supplied with V5C Registration form, and an MOT Certificate that expired in April 2007.
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