How Would You Resurrect A 1953 Norton Dominator 88?

Image: Todd Ingermanson

The bike had been raced. The frame was stripped to the bare minimum. No brackets, centerstand lugs removed, extra holes for rearsets drilled in the frame’s webbing for mounting the swingarm, etc. The frame—one of the first-generation Norton featherbed frames—had a bolt-up subframe (exactly what BMW did on its boxers from the ’70s) and was the year before the British company braced and gusseted the headstock on the road-going bikes.

Not only had this frame been raced, it appeared to have been crashed a time or two. The subframe was twisted, as was the swingarm, and there were a few small scattered dents. In the crate with the frame was a 500cc iron head motor from a Dominator 77, an AMC gearbox, some mismatched wheels, a Lucas magneto, a pair of rusty Roadholder forks, and a handful of parts for Todd Ingermanson to try and make a motorbike out of. Of all the contents of that crate, only the front half of the frame remains on the bike.