Our story starts several years ago with a family friend, Alan, who knew that I rode motorcycles. On one visit, he opened his rather damp and dilapidated garden shed, moved some of the detritus of years and revealed a sorry-looking and very rusty motorcycle holding up the shed from within. The machine had sat undisturbed for a good number of years after an unsuccessful attempt to restore it. All that seemed to have been done was brushing some black paint onto the tank and the loss of one of the tank badges, so I thought ‘restoration’ was an ambitious term! Alan didn't divulge who'd attempted this ‘restoration.’
Removing more stuff revealed that it was a Norton twin in a state of decay. The Norton looked like it could be a potential first restoration project for me when I retired, but Alan couldn't offer it to me then because it belonged to his eldest son, Graham. A few years later, Graham confirmed he had no further interest in the Norton, so it was mine if I wanted it.
And so it was that in October 2018, I dragged the Norton from the shed and loaded it onto my friend Alistair's trailer. While I examined the registration documents, I learned that Graham had
