Introduced in October 1968 (and produced only until February of 1970), the Norton Mercury was considered by some to be a ‘parts bin’ bike when it was released. History has been a bit kinder to it – only about 750 were ever sold and it was the last of the Dominator twins.
When Norton Villiers took over what was left of AMC, their focus was on getting the new Commando out the door. But the new company had plenty of inventory from parts that had previously been used to build bikes like the Atlas or P11. The Mercury was created in part to use up this remaining inventory – the closest comparison would be to consider it a 650SS with a single carb. Most of these bikes were exported to the US and Canada. For a bit more information on the Mercury, check out this profile on Real Classic. This example is numbers matching and has Boyer ignition. It was restored and includes documentation of the work, and it’s apparently registered in the UK and Alberta, Canada.
Find this Mercury for sale in Calgary, Alberta for $9,000 here on Robin’s Classic Motorcycles.