Big 4 in Australia
Hi Richard and Rich,
Having collected and researched my Big 4 I have found out a few facts and a lot of heresay.
Norton made 3,300 outfits (The Classic Motorcycle Nov 1989) but I have read elsewhere there were over 4000 produced.
The Orchard/ Madden book is excellent but I think the numbers may be off, I'm not sure because I wasn't there.
There is a Norton Big 4/ 16H website run out Holland(?), they may be of some help.
My information leads me to think that the Pommies gave Australia around 200 Big 4s after they became obselete with the arrival of the jeep in the U.K... 1942. I can't see Mother England giving bikes to Australia in 1939 as they needed them more than us!
Of these 200, no chairs/AA bodies were included. Wooden boxes were fitted here in OZ similar to the WLA combinations.
The bike I have came from a station in the North, way way north and also some of the sidecar frames I collected. This fits with some of the stories about Nortons used to pull bomb trains at airfields in the north of Australia. There was another up in Rockhampton Qld many moons ago that was supposed to have been found near an old airfield.
There are 10 other Big 4 Nortons that I know of in Australia but not all are complete or have a sidecar chassis... lets see what turns up at "The Year of the Motorbike" next year.
I have an original drivers hand book somewhere, I check to see if it's stamped.
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