The National Motorcycle Museum is showing the Sam Wheeler 1970 Norton streamliner, the fastest-ever Norton.
Missing for many years, the historic Sam Wheeler 1970 Norton streamliner is now resident at the Museum after a full restoration in the USA.
Wheeler, who first piloted streamlined record machines at Bonneville Salt Flats in the early Sixties, built the Norton after serving in Vietnam. Its tuned 750cc Norton Commando engine is mounted in a tubular frame and clothed with a body shell made from a Lockheed Starfighter drop tank. The bright Safety Yellow paint was also military surplus material.
At Bonneville in 1970, Wheeler made runs in opposite directions to record an aggregate speed of 208.729mph and clinch the record for a 750cc two-wheeler on pump fuel.
Wheeler and his machine came to England to prepare for a Norton-backed assault on the absolute motorcycle record with a bigger engine. The attempt had to be abandoned due to legal action taken by the builder of the original engine, who gained custody of the machine and later sold it. After lying forgotten in California for many years it was unearthed and rebuilt by the same team in Texas who restored the Museum’s 1956 214mph Triumph streamliner.
National Motorcycle Museum
Coventry Road, Bickenhill, Solihull,
West Midlands, B92 0EJ
www.nationalmotorcyclemuseum.co.uk