NORTON

James Lansdowne Norton formed the company at Bradford Street, Birmingham, in 1898 to make fittings and parts for the two-wheel trade. By 1902 it was building motorcycles with bought-in French and Swiss engines, and in 1907 a Norton with a Peugeot engine, ridden by Rem Fowler, won the twin-cylinder class in the first Isle of Man TT. Norton-built engines followed in 1908, the start of a long line of single-cylinder side-valve machines that continued with few changes until the late 1950s.

The "curly N" logo, designed by James Norton and his daughter Ethel, appeared in the 1914 catalogue and on the motorcycles from 1915. During the Second World War Norton produced almost 100,000 of the military Model 16 H and Big 4 sidevalves. Associated Motor Cycles bought the company in 1953, it became Norton-Villiers in 1966 and merged with BSA in 1973 to form Norton Villiers Triumph. After the company went into administration in January 2020, TVS Motor Company acquired its assets and restarted production at a new factory in Solihull.