Barry Pummell got in touch to tell us about his Norton 650SS. It was originally sold by Gus Kuhn Motors in April 1962 to Patrick Burke of Stockwell Park Road, Brixton. He kept it for a couple of years before it went to Norwich, where it remained until Barry got hold of it.
The bike was originally registered in the name of Gus Kuhn Motors. This was not unusual, as they were sometimes registered in the dealer's name because it was quicker if the customer hadn't had time to get his insurance sorted out before the bike was registered and allocated a registration number prior to delivery. The customer would later transfer it to their name, though in fact the bike had only had the one owner.
Barry has done a grand job of restoration and it probably looks better now than when it left the Gus Kuhn showroom in 1962!
Barry subsequently exchanged the Norton, and the new owner is curious to know why it has a later engine fitted.
According to the VMCC records the replacement engine left the Factory in January 1964 with its matching frame and was sent as a complete machine to (this is hard to decipher) J Bowen and Son, Dembs (Denbighshire, N. Wales?).
Perhaps someone 'blew up' the original and another engine was sourced from a crashed bike, maybe during it's time in Norwich.
If you can fill in any gaps in the history of this bike, please let us know.
