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1957 Manx Norton

Last year I was lucky enough to acquire a 1957 Manx Norton for my collection (ex John Surtees/Alan Trow) from Martin Adam’s of Louisville Kentucky. The machine came with a spare front wheel, which Martin said he bought from someone in New Zealand, he was told that the wheel had come off a bike that Mike had ridden at some point, (hard to know if its true, but its an interesting story).

Being a life long admirer of Mike, I thought I would use the front wheel as a starting point and build a café Manx in memory of the maestro. Its all ready for the road and as soon as the weather get a little warmer I will go out and see if I can scare myself. As any Manx, it does not have a kick starter and the trick is to start it on the first bump, the second or third bump would be embarrassing, because there is nothing elegant about an old geezer hyperventilating on the side of the road.

When I was in school in Chiswick back in the stone age (early sixties) I used to a get a great deal of joy following Mikes progress and after immigrating to Canada I had the pleasure seeing him in the pits at the Canadian GP in 1967, (I was there helping a friend with his machine).

Regards
R. Goby Gobalian