After 20 years of dominating English motorcycling with their legendary singles it became obvious to Norton that they needed a twin to compete with Triumph and others. In 1948 Norton introduced the Model 7 which was essentially a twin mounted on a single frame. Not a good effort for Norton. They improved with the model 88, 99 and 650SS and brought out the Atlas (named for the American ICBM) in 1962. By all accounts, the Atlas was a good motorcycle that suffered the terrible reputation of it’s predecessors.
By 1965 the Atlas had Norton’s Featherbed frame, Roadholder forks and the best gearbox in the business. Coupled with a 750 CC (45.46 CID) four stroke air cooled parallel twin with a single Amal carb that produced 58 HP in a wide power band it could have been extraordinary. Except that it vibrated (as did all early parallel twins) and had a disturbing tendency to head shake at speed. The best part of the Atlas is that it wasn’t long until the Commando would arrive and we all know the success of that model.
This 1965 Norton Atlas (VIN: 20115165P) is in Willis, Texas and listed as a very good original survivor with mileage unavailable. Not posting a mileage makes me very nervous, but shows a starting price of $6500 and reserve not met