In the red
According to that great online source of almost accurate information, 1957 was the year the UK population had never had it so good. I thought it was 1959, but for the purpose of this introduction, 1957 will do. I’m sure a large number of readers will know that Prime Minister Harold Macmillan made that bold statement, but the claim that 1957 was the happiest year ever has been backed up by serious research and to condense all that academic stuff into a few words, the gist of it all was the world was changing and the population was looking to the future… a brighter future. At least the members of the population who weren’t involved in designing paint schemes for Norton, that is.
The problem was that the biggest market for motorcycles was the US, where things were bigger, brighter, brasher and shinier, or at least they appeared to be. Norton’s range of Dominators were good motorcycles and had the kudos of being associated with the racing Manx models thanks to the Featherbed frame
