My friend John (who has the wicked Norvin in my Velo Summer Rally post) recently returned from Madison, Wisconsin, where he retrieved this 1957 Norton International Model 30. The machine has been laid up since 1965, but was originally imported to Hap Jones in San Francisco, so the bike is coming home.Norton hadn't cataloged this model since 1955, and many mistakenly believe production ceased in that year, but I've seen several California imports from '56 and '57 - the 'lost' Inters, and certainly the last ones.
They were made to special order only, and of course are housed in Wideline Featherbed frames. The cycle parts appear to be identical to the Dominator twin models, but in fact much is different, starting with the petrol tank, which is deeper and has a larger capacity than the twins. The frame tabs are in different locations, the oil tank is unique to this model, and the gearbox has a differnt cluster with longer mainshaft and close-ratio gears (well, the top 3 are close, the bottom is very l.o.w.).
All Inters are rare, as not that many cammy Nortons were made, but the last Featherbed models are especially rare. In truth, the factory did precious little development on the engine since the 1930's, and thus power output/performance is little changed from even the earliest Model 30 from 1931. With a silencer, top whack is around 85-90mph, but losing the baffles in the muffler will buy you another 10mph, while a high-compression piston gains a bit more still, and a genuine 100mph roadster is yours.
A good friend of mine, Fred Twigg, has a '54 Inter which made 11th place in that year's Isle of Man Clubman's TT. It had an 11:1 comp piston, which was quickly changed for something reasonable! Fred rode this machine everywhere, and it was a paragon of reliability. I rode it on many occasions (we would swap my Velo Thruxton for his Inter), and I always enjoyed the great urge from the long-stroke engine (79x100mm), which produced great stomping torque from almost no revs. The Inter would hit 100mph easily while sitting upright, and handled faultlessly. A charismatic machine.
John, you're a lucky man.
